The body of a 65-year-old man was found hanging from a railway bridge near Sunsunia rail gate on the Burmamines-Sakchi road on Monday morning.

The deceased was later identified as Jogender Singh, a resident of East Plant Bustee in Burmamines, a kilometre away from where his body was found.

Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver, was undergoing financial problems owing to the lockdown. The police said this seems to be a case of suicide from preliminary findings.

A plastic rope used for hanging has also been recovered along with the body. The body has been sent to the MGM Medical College Hospital at Sakchi for a Covid test. It will be shifted to the medical college mortuary at Dimna for autopsy on Tuesday.

Assistant sub-inspector Ravi Kant Singh said the deceased had left his house at about 9 pm on Sunday, but did not return home, leading the family members to search for him throughout the night.

"The man might have died by hanging himself past midnight, after commuters had stopped passing through the road. Had he attempted to hang himself earlier, someone would have noticed, as this is a busy thoroughfare," the ASI told The Telegraph Online.

Jogender’s son Pritam Singh said he committed suicide due to depression.

"My father was an auto-rickshaw driver and would drive on the Burmamines-Station route regularly. After lock down was imposed in April, he had to sit idle at home. In the next two months, the family’s financial condition deteriorated as all sources of income had depleted. For the past few weeks, my father had started showing signs of depression. He had also stopped talking to family members. Last night he left the house without eating dinner, and did not return home. We all searched for him in the locality throughout the night, but in the early morning someone informed us that his body was found hanging near the Sunsunia railway bridge in Burmamines," Pritam said.