Kerala shocker: IRS officer and sister found hanging, mother’s body discovered on bed at Kochi home; probe underway

In a tragic incident, an IRS officer and his family were found dead at his home in Kochi district of Kerala.

Bodies of Maneesh Vijay (43), additional commissioner with Central Excise and Customs in Kochi, his sister Shalini Vijay were found hanging, while their mother, Shakuntala Agarwal, was discovered dead on her bed with the body draped in a white cloth, and flowers sprinkled over it.

It is unclear when they died.

Maneesh was on leave for few days and didn’t return to work.

The incident came to light after some colleagues of Maneesh, who was on leave for a few days and didn’t return to work, visited his home on Thursday night.

Upon detecting a foul smell, they checked through an open window and spotted one body hanging.

Later, police were informed. Upon entering the house, they found a second body hanging in another room and a third body on bed.

Maneesh was residing at the Central Excise Staff Quarters at Kakkanadu, Kochi.

The Kerala Police on Saturday said it is probing various angles regarding the mysterious deaths of the IRS officer and his kin.

According to preliminary probe, the siblings died by suicide.

The exact cause of their deaths can be ascertained only after autopsy.

Shalini had recently received court summons for her appearance in Jharkhand on February 15 in connection with a CBI case pertaining to alleged irregularities in her appointment in the Jharkhand government service, said a PTI report citing sources.

She was the topper of the first batch of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and her last posting was in Garhwa as district social welfare officer.

While investigators are exploring all angles, they have not yet established a direct link between the deaths and the case.

“If the mother’s death is found to be natural, the siblings’ suicides could be due to grief. Right now, our focus is to confirm the cause of death through the autopsy,” PTI quoted an officer as saying.

The family, originally from Jharkhand capital Ranchi, had been residing in the quarters for the past year-and-a-half but reportedly kept to themselves, maintaining limited interaction with neighbours, said the police.