Patna, Jul 18 (IANS): Jitendra Pratap Shahi, a member of the erstwhile Hathua royal family, was committed suicide in by shooting himself with a license rifle in Bihar's Gopalganj, police said on Monday.

Shahi was found dead at around 4 p.m. on Sunday and the weapon and a suicide note was also found near his dead body.

Shahi is a cousin of Mrigendra Pratap Shahi, the self-declared ruler of Hathua area in Gopalganj. In a suicide note, he claimed that some relatives have fraudulently took his signatures on plain paper and misusing it and hence, he committed suicide using his license rifle.

“We have received information of the mysterious death of Jitendra Pratap Shahi in Babua ji compound in Hathua palace. Our officers have investigated fron all angles of murder and suicide. We have also called for an FSL team from Muzaffarpur and finger print experts from Patna and collected the evidence from the spot. We have recovered the weapon used in suicide and a suicide note,” Gopalganj's Superintendent of Police Swarn Prabhat said.

An FIR of abetment of suicide is registered in Hathua police station in the district and the investigation is underway.