Image credit : Illustrative Image

An industrialist, in his late seventies, on Wednesday shot himself dead at his house near Kothagiri in Nilgiris District due to financial problems.

According to police, P.S. Belliraj, who runs an educational institution and owns a tea factory and a marriage hall in Nilgiris and a spinning mill in Coimbatore, returned home in Aravenu around 7.30 a.m. after a morning walk.

After a brief chat with his wife, he headed to his room from where a sound of a gun shot was heard.

On information, police rushed to his house, recovered the body and sent it to Government Hospital in Coimbatore for post mortem.

Superintendent of Police Murali Rambha and other senior officials held preliminary inquiry with the family members, during which time it was found that Belliraj had borrowed money from several people and some goons in the name of a former DMK Minister in Erode were issuing threats demanding the money back.

Belliraj, is survived by wife, three daughters and a son. His suicide has shocked residents of Kothagiri.