CHENNAI: A 47-year-old AIADMK unit secretary, who had recently filed his application to contest from the Saidapet constituency, was found dead early on Friday inside his party office in Kumaran Nagar in a suspected case of suicide.

The deceased, identified as Sugumar, served as the Saidapet West secretary of the AIADMK, and lived in Jafferkhanpet. On Thursday night, he had been at the party office in Saidapet making arrangements for the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of the late party founder MG Ramachandran. He later asked his friends to leave, stating he would stay at the office overnight.

When party functionaries and friends returned on Friday morning, they discovered Sugumar’s body inside a room and alerted the Kumaran Nagar police.

The police sent his body to the ESI Hospital in KK Nagar for post-mortem examination. A case has been registered and an investigation is under way.

Preliminary inquiries suggest that Sugumar was under significant financial strain due to debts, which is believed to have led to the extreme step. However, police officials stated they are examining all possible angles to rule out any other factors.

As part of the investigation, police have seized Sugumar's mobile phone and are analysing his call records to trace his final contacts and reconstruct the events leading to his death.