Monk found hanging in south Delhi apartment
[TNN]NEW DELHI, May 19: A Buddhist monk, who was an ardent follower of the Dalai Lama, allegedly hanged himself at his apartment in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area as he was depressed over insomnia. However, his devotees said the monk, Tsona Gontse the Rinpoche, was upset over his relative losing polls from a seat in Arunachal Pradesh. Police said they are trying to find out the 47-year-old monk’s exact cause of death.
Police have recovered a letter written in Tibetan from the Rinpoche’s room. He was found hanging with a cloth from the ceiling fan in his B-Block apartment in Vasant Enclave on Friday night by one of his followers who had come to serve him dinner. She raised an alarm and informed other devotees of the ashram, who then called the police. A team from Vasant Kunj (south) police station reached the flat and brought down the body.
According to his followers, the Rinpoche was recognized as a reincarnation of Lama Thupten Jampal Wangchuk by the Dalai Lama. He was also elected as a minister of state in the Arunachal government in 2004 after contesting on a Congress ticket.
Police said he was also running an NGO in Delhi along with the ashram at the apartment. He had recently visited his hometown and returned to Delhi on May 2.
Police said the Rinpoche’s body was sent for postmortem, which confirmed death by hanging.
The body was then handed over to his devotees and flown to his native village Bomdilla in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday night.
Cops are questioning the devotees to establish the sequence of events. Apparently no foul play was found for his death by senior officials. The letter found in his room has been sent for forensic examination and a language expert is been consulted to decipher its contents.
Sources said that the Rinpoche had stopped talking to his devotees for the last few days and had apparently written in the letter that he was sad about his activities and sought forgiveness from God. One of his devotees added that he used to write letters to his disciples from time to time.
