Kaiga nuclear power plant scientific officer L Mahalingam, who went missing on June 8 and whose body was found in the river Kali running behind the power plant township on June 13, is suspected to have committed suicide on account of personal problems, said police sources in the Karwar region, 500 km from here, where the incident occurred.

“Suicide due to family problems is believed to have resulted in the death. A preliminary post-mortem report has been given, but the doctor is yet to give a final conclusion. Some chemical and biological tests are pending at the regional forensic science lab in Mangalore and the results will take three to four days,” the sources said.

Mahalingam’s body was fished out of the river by Naval divers on the evening of June 13. It was identified on the basis of a ring and clothes by his wife V Sundari who had filed the complaint on June 8 about her husband’s disappearance. A brother of Mahalingam, however, refused to identify the body and demanded a DNA test to establish the identity.

The 47-year-old scientist had been employed at the simulator training division of the nuclear power plant and was reported missing by his wife after he did not return from a morning walk on the power plant township’s 100-acre campus on June 8. The police had, initially, hinted at a possible accident and had raised the wild surroundings of the township as a possible factor in the disappearance.