

BANGALORE: A 32-year-old salesman Santosh Gowda with a shoe company committed suicide, citing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 's alleged "bad administration" and failure to repel attacks by Pakistan as the cause.

Santosh Kumar Appaswamy Gowda was a resident of Dasarahalli on Tumkur Road and a native of Sakleshpur, Chikmagalur district.

The suicide came to light when a neighbour peeped though the half-open door of his single-bedroom residence around 7.30pm Thursday. Santosh was hanging from the ceiling by a rope.

A Pre-University course dropout, Santosh had moved to Bangalore 12 years ago and worked as a salesman with various companies before joining a footwear major four years ago.

Santosh, a bachelor, was upset that he couldn't be a success in life. He was also addicted to alcohol and gambling, his colleagues told police.

Police recovered a three-page suicide note in Kannada from the room. In the first two pages, Santosh lamented his inability to earn enough to buy assets and come to terms with life in Bangalore. The last page was devoted to the political situation in the country. He charged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with "failure in giving good administration".

Colleagues told police he was also depressed over his failure to take care of his parents in their old age.

The body was shifted to MS Ramaiah Hospital for the autopsy and handed over to his family on Friday.

Excerpt of suicide note

I have spent 12 years working in Bangalore but have miserably failed to earn money and make assets… Due to financial constraints, I could not look after my aged parents and this pains me a lot. I hate Bangalore as it is difficult to live here. There is no meaning for words like truth and human values in Bangalore… I am upset with prime minister Manmohan Singh for his failures… Pakistani soldiers are foraying into our territory, killing our Armymen and beheading them at will. Still, the Indian government is doing nothing. If there is something called rebirth, I will be reborn as an Indian solider and serve the country.

-- Santosh Kumar Appaswamy Gowda

Expert speak

Santosh seems to have suffered from major depression disorder. Further, he must have been riven by conflicts with his loneliness which perhaps added to his depression. People like this have high ideals but get disappointed when they realize there's no place for them in real life. Born and brought up in a village, he couldn't adjust himself to life in Bangalore. The desperation born out of his realization that he hadn't lived up to his ideals is reflected him invoking the Prime Minister's name in his suicide note.

Dr Anand Pandurangi | psychiatrist

