New Delhi: Former Uttarakhand minister Rajendra Bahuguna climbed a water tank and shot himself on Wednesday.
The incident happened three days after his daughter-in-law filed a case accusing him of molesting his granddaughter.
59-year-old Bahuguna reportedly dialed the police on the emergency number 112 from his home in Haldwani and told them about his suicide plan, ND TV reported.
He killed himself after the cops arrived, in front of horrified neighbours and witnesses.
“He was very upset about his daughter-in-law’s allegation,” ND TV quoted a senior police officer as saying.
When the police came, they saw Bahuguna standing on the tank, threatening to shoot himself.
The police, using a loudspeaker, tried to talk him out of it but the politician kept repeating he had been falsely accused.
At one point, it seemed he was ready to come down. But then he suddenly shot himself in the chest and died on the spot.
Following a complaint by his son Ajay Bahuguna, his daughter-in-law, her father, and a neighbour have been charged with driving him to commit suicide.
Bahuguna was associated with the Congress and was given the status of a minister of state in the ND Tiwari government in 2004-5.