Shalini was on leave since 2020.
New Delhi: In a tragic incident, the first Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) topper Shalini Vijay and her brother and mother allegedly died by suicide in Kerala.
Shalini Vijay had been under the scanner of a CBI probe and was an accused. Her career got caught in what has been described as a “protracted legal tangle”.
Shalini, her brother Manish Vijay, an IRS serving as additional commissioner of central excise and customs in Kochi, and their mother Shakuntala are suspected to have entered into a suicide pact while the CBI was investigating the impartiality of the selection process. The three were found dead in a government accommodation in Kerala’s Kochi on Friday, February 21, six days after she failed to appear for a court hearing in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
The mother’s body was lying on the bed, while the bodies of Shalini Vijay and her brother were found hanging. The Kerala Police is investigating whether it is murder or suicide.
The Kerala police have found a suicide note from the scene, raising concerns that Shalini Vijay was distressed due to job-related allegations. Shalini Vijay was troubled after her name surfaced in the JPSC first merit scam. She had gone to Kerala to stay with her brother for the past two years who was already living there along with their mother.
The JPSC conducted the exam for the first time in 2003 and Shalini took this exam in 2006 and topped it. She was appointed to the position of Deputy Collector. However, her rank was later challenged. Subsequently, she was dismissed. In 2024, a chargesheet related to this case was filed and legal proceedings were ongoing. Shalini was under a lot of stress due to this case.
Shalini Vijay, assistant director in the Jharkhand social welfare department, was on leave since 2020.
