The front of the Continuous Discharge Certificate Cum-Seafarers’ Identity Document. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, July 9: A merchant navy officer from Amritsar was found dead in a hotel room in Darjeeling this morning with police claiming to have found a bottle of “aluminium sulphide” and a suicide note written in Hindi from his bedside.

Nardev Singh Mehra, 44, had been staying at the hotel on Robertson Road since June 29, paying Rs 250 a day.

“He used to bring food from outside and visited Mahakal Mandir, Japanese temple and Eden Dham in town. He used to say that he was writing about the history of Darjeeling,” said Bipen Sharma, the manager of the hotel.

In the hotel register, Mehra had said he was from the “merchant navy” and had given his address as House No. 609/279, Royal Ludhiana, 1140001, Amritsar, Punjab.

The police also recovered a Continuous Discharge Certificate Cum-Seafarers’ Identity Document, issued in Mumbai in 1993, which says Mehra was the son of Mohinder Singh (in picture by Suman Tamang).

Last night, hotel employees saw Mehra laughing as he watched cartoon on the TV set in his room. “He usually woke up between 6am and 7am. But today, he did not wake up till 10am, despite us banging on the door and sprinkling water through the ventilator. That is when we called the police,” said the hotel manager.

The police broke open the door and found Mehra dead in his bed. “We also found a bottle with ‘aluminium sulphide’ written on it, along with packed food and a few banana skins,” said a police officer. “This looks like a suicide. We are trying to get in touch with the police in Punjab. No contact number is available as he had no mobile phone.”

The police also claimed to have found a suicide note in Hindi. “The note says he had been happy with his life and that no one was to be blamed for his death. It was pretty poetic,” the officer said.