Oct 8 (Mumbai Mirror): A prominent builder from Thane committed suicide on Wednesday by shooting himself in the head in a sample bungalow built by his company, allegedly due to depression arising out of the financial mess he found himself in after a recent raid by the Income Tax department.

Police said Suraj Parmar, 46, left a five-page suicide note on his tablet PC in which he mentioned how he was going through a rough patch as his projects were incomplete due to lack of requisite permissions from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).

Parmar also said in the suicide note that he was fed up with government regulations and the problems being faced by realty developers, police added. He had been fined Rs 250 crore by the I-T department for discrepancies in documentation and misappropriation of assets, and the TMC had put permissions for his projects on hold after the raid.

Parmar, who had resigned as the president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry's Thane unit 10 days ago, was at a construction site office of his company, Concord Developers, in Kasarwadavali.

Before going to the sample bungalow, he had visited a site nearby and left instructions for his contractors and workers before asking the driver to wait there for him as he had some personal work to attend to.

At the bungalow, he asked the domestic help for tea, which was probably the last time he was seen alive. The help returned to find Parmar dead in a chair, with a gun in his hand. "He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Till now, no foul play is suspected," Police PRO Gajanan Kabdule said.

Police said the suicide note had been written two days ago, and Parmar had clearly planned the suicide. His family, however, said no one found his behaviour to be abnormal when he left home, but he had refused to take his elder son with him to the site. This had come as a surprise as his elder son accompanied him wherever he went. He is survived by his wife and sons.

Some months ago, the TMC had issued a notice to Parmar over one of his key projects for alleged severe violations of the rules. In fact, the builder-TMC dispute in Thane is now in the Supreme Court.

Following political pressure and on grounds of humanity considering the plight of flat buyers due to the non-availability of the crucial occupation certificate (OC), TMC authorities granted partial OCs to the controversial project, subject to outcome of the case in the SC. Over a month ago, the I-T department is said to have raided Parmar's offices.