New Delhi, Dec. 28: Former Rajasthan home minister Gulab Singh Shaktawat was questioned by the CBI recently in connection with the alleged murder of his domestic help, Badan Lal Rawat.

Bureau officials grilled Shaktawat in Jaipur to give final shape to their six-month-long investigation.

Sources said Shaktawat was quizzed on Rawat’s background, the work assigned to him and on his reported absence for 10 days between May 10 and May 20, before he was found dead.

Rawat’s body was found beside the track near Durgapura railway station on May 22.

The sources added that the driver of a train that plied through that route was also questioned.

The driver has allegedly told the sleuths he doesn’t remember anybody giving up his life near the track.

Officials have reached the conclusion that Rawat was suffering from depression, which might have led him to give up his life. Investigators are trying to ascertain if Rawat had slipped into depression due to personal reasons or there was any external influence behind it.

CBI sources said the agency would take its next course of action after it receives legal opinion on the evidence collected.

The Rajasthan government had handed over the case to the CBI following pressure from the Opposition, which demanded Shaktawat’s resignation. Accusing police of a cover-up, the BJP had demanded that the former home minister should resign as he was facing murder allegations.

The police had, at first, registered a case of suicide at Sanganer police station, under whose jurisdiction Durgapura station falls. However, prompted by a court order, the case was later registered at Sodala police station.

Rawat’s elder brother Roop Lal had filed a criminal complaint in the court, alleging that the police were refusing to lodge his complaint.

Contesting the police theory that his brother committed suicide by throwing himself before a train, he had sought registration of a case of murder and destruction of evidence against the former minister.

The CBI has questioned Lal and his father Hama on the allegations they had made against Shaktawat.