A 32-year-old IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, hailing from Bengaluru, was found dead under mysterious circumstances, in his room at the Police Officers Mess at Egmore in Chennai on Thursday.

N Harish, a 2009 batch officer, who was recently transferred from Madurai district, was working as Assistant Superintendent of Police with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in Chennai. His death came to light in the morning when a cop working at the hostel mess broke into Harish’s room to find him lying unconscious on his bed. 

After  doctors declared him dead, the body was shifted to Egmore Hospital for postmortem.

Harish’s parents, who are from Malur in Kolar district, live in a second floor house in Manjunathnagar, off Rajajinagar in Bengaluru.
 Harish was suffering from depression as he could not clear an examination and get promoted as Superintendent of Police (SP), police said.

“His batch mates said Harish was upset after he failed in the department's promotion exam,” said a police officer.

Police sources in the intelligence wing told Deccan Herald that since the promotion test was in Tamil, Harish found it difficult to clear it. Harish, who was unmarried, had also got addicted to alcohol lately.

Some of his batch mates , accused Harish’s senior colleagues of harassing him while he was in Madurai. Harish was posted as ASP in Thiruparankundram zone in Madurai district in August 2011.

Though preliminary probe indicated the cause of death as natural, it was suspected that Harish might have  committed suicide by consuming sleeping pills.

“The real cause of death will be known only after getting the autopsy report,” the investigation officer said. Harish had secured the 186th rank in the all-India Civil Services Examination in 2008.