Hemant Dhall, who killed self on Wednesday night blaming note ban in his suicide note recovered by police, actually did not appear to be going through any cash crunch, according to local shopkeepers in the South Patel Nagar market area where Dhall had several showrooms.
A shopkeeper, who was closely acquainted with Dhall, said his two elctronic showrooms were doing well and he was planning to set up a third electronic showroom in the market area.
It was on Thursday, when a senior police officer, privy to the investigation said that at 10:30 am, body of the 41-year-old businessman was found in his Toyota Corolla car parked at an agricultural patch inside the Pusa road based Indian Agricultural Research Institute, a highly secured area.
Police said in the preliminary investigation, they were informed by one of the 25 staffers working at Dhall’s showrooms that he was last seen around at 3 pm on Wednesday afternoon. Family of Dhall filed a missing complaint at the Ranjit Nagar Police Station after he was not found.
Also, police said they found that Dhall did not end his life due to demonetisation. It appears that he was upset over some personal problem.
Finding his phone switched off, wife and son of Dhall came to the shop at midnight. They asked around the locals if they had seen Dhall.
Police said they are questioning the local shopkeepers and the family members of Dhall to establish what exactly triggered him to take such an extreme step. Police are also scanning the CCTV footage of the complex where the body was found.
local shopkeepers in the South Patel Nagar market area said that as far as the idea that Hemant Dhall was allegedly depressed owing to low income due to demonetisation, it is unlikely that he ended his life because of this reason.
One of the shop owners, Joginder said, “Dhall talked to everyone nicely. As far as I can recall, I never saw him depressed.”
Meanwhile, one of the staffers employed at one of the showrooms run by Dhall said, “Dhall was not eating properly for the past ten days. He usually got lunch packed from his home in Gurugram. However, for the past fortnight, he asked me to get food packed from nearby eateries in the area.”