Shubanso Pul was studying at the University of Sussex.
Kalikho Pul as Arunachal Pradesh chief minister conducting a surprise inspection at a school. Photo: PTI/Files
The Wire Staff 12 February 2020
New Delhi: Shubanso Pul, son of the former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Kalikho Pul who killed himself in 2016 and left behind a controversial note, has been found dead under suspicious circumstances at his apartment in Brighton in Sussex, UK.
Pul had left behind a 60-page suicide note accusing some of the top names in the judiciary and state politics of corruption, including the present chief minister Pema Khandu. The Wire had first published the original note, written in Hindi, and also the English translation of it.
Shubanso, aged 20, was the son of Pul’s first wife Dangwimsai Pul. While Dangwimsai had sought an inquiry of Kalikho’s death by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and has also moved the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the allegations of massive corruption mentioned in her husband’s suicide note, the Bharatiya Janata Party gave the party ticket to his third wife Dasanglu Pul, to contest the bye-elections from Hayuliang, Pul’s constituency. She won the elections.
Speaking to The Wire from Itanagar, Dangwimsai said, “I am in shock, I am so tensed.” She last spoke to Shubanso, her second son, on February 8 morning on WhatsApp. “It has only been six months since he joined the University of Sussex, he was relatively new there.”
Calling it a “murder”, she said, “We got to know about his murder on February 9 from the CBI office in Itanagar. We were told that it happened on February 8 evening.”
Though she is “yet to get justice for (her) husband’s death”, she, however, said, “I will not suspect anyone yet as we know very little about it so far.”