A BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh, Ram Swaroop Sharma, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his residence in Lutyens’ Delhi on Wednesday morning, police said.

Prima-facie, it appears that the Mandi MP had committed suicide, police said, adding that no suicide note had been found. News agency PTI reported that Sharma, 62, had been suffering from several ailments.

Sharma is the second MP to die allegedly by suicide in less than a month.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar, an Independent serving his seventh term, was found hanging in a Mumbai hotel on February 22. A purported suicide note written in Gujarati had accused top administrative officials in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and a top politician of harassment.

Speaking on the death of Sharma, a Delhi police spokesperson said: “Prima facie it looks like suicide and an inquiry is underway. The exact cause of his death will be known after the post-mortem report.”

According to the police, an aide of Sharma called up the police control room around 7.45am on Wednesday after the parliamentarian did not respond to knocks on his door. A police team rushed to the house and forced open the door and found Sharma hanging from the ceiling fan. He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Sharma was alone at home as his wife had gone on a pilgrimage. He is also survived by his three sons.

Born in 1958 in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district, Sharma was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014. He was re-elected from Mandi in the 2019 general election.

Sharma was a member of the standing committee on external affairs and the consultative committee of the ministry.

The BJP cancelled its parliamentary meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning after learning about Sharma’s death. The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 1pm after expressing condolences over his death.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to offer his condolences. “Shri Ram Swaroop Sharma was a dedicated leader, who was always committed to solving people’s problems. He worked tirelessly for the betterment of society. Pained by his untimely and unfortunate demise.”

Last week the Congress had suggested that Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Delkar could have been saved had Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla responded to his desperate pleas for help.