KOCHI: The Kerala Police on Saturday said they were probing various angles regarding the deaths of an IRS officer and his kin here and have intensified the investigation, days after the Customs official and his sister were found hanging inside their house here while their mother’s body was also found there.
One of the victims, Shalini Vijay, who was summoned by a court in a CBI case earlier, was a state government officer in Jharkhand. A Personnel Department official in Ranchi said there was no information about her since 2020 after she went to Kerala on vacation.
The deceased have been identified as Maneesh Vijay (43), an IRS officer and Additional Commissioner with Central Excise and Customs in Kochi, his sister Shalini Vijay and their mother, Shakuntala Agarwal.
According to police sources, Shalini had recently received court summons directing for her appearance in Jharkhand on February 15 in connection with a CBI case. She was an accused in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in her appointment in the Jharkhand government service, sources added.
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 Maneesh and Shalini were found hanging, Shakuntala was found dead on her bed with the body draped in a white cloth, and flowers sprinkled over it. According to the police, preliminary findings suggest the siblings died by suicide. However, the exact cause of their mother’s death can be ascertained only after an autopsy.
The police found Maneesh had purchased flowers on February 14. They also found an entry in his diary dated February 15, instructing that certain documents be handed over to his younger sister, who is currently in Dubai.