AGARTALA / GUWAHATI, September 17 (bdnews24 / TIWN): The Saradha scam claimed its first victim in India's northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday, when former state police chief Shankar Barua was found dead in his residence here.

Family sources and police say they suspect he committed suicide by shooting himself .

The body has been taken to hospital for post-mortem.

Police officials said Barua had been hospitalised after his residence was subjected to search recently in connection with the multi-million rupee Saradha scam.

Barua came under a cloud after former Saradha manager Dibon Deka named him as recepient of slush funds from Saradha chief Sudipta Sen.

The former police chief denied the allegations stoutly and claimed he had been framed but colleagues say he was distraught after questioning by sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Many former police officers have been hauled up by the CBI in West Bengal for close links with Saradha . One former West Bengal police chief Rajat Majumder is in jail now.

While CBI alleges he is not cooperating with the investigations and concealing his role in the scam, Majumder says CBI is pressurizing him to 'substantiate their version' to nail top Trinamul Congress leaders including Chief Minister Mamata Banerji.

Another senior police official in Bengal  Deben Biswas has also been questioned.

"Shankar was a man of honour and perhaps could not take the humiliation ," said a former colleague but he was unwilling to be named.