Britannica COO jumps to death in Gurgaon
Gurgaon: A 47-year-old chief operating officer (COO) of an international company allegedly jumped to death from his society building in DLF Phase III on Sunday.
Vineet Whig, who worked as COO of South Asia division of Encylopedia Britannica, jumped from the 19th floor of his apartment in Cyber City area in the morning.
Cops found a suicide note from his pocket that stated that he is ending his life as he is fed up with himself.
Vineet lived in DLF Belvedere Park with his father, wife, two sons and a daughter. His eldest son is 19-year-old and studies in college. His death came as a shock to his family and his father Om Whig suffered a heart attack on hearing the news and is now hospitalized.
An avid photographer, Whig was passionate about wildlife and music, and had travelled to many countries including Japan, The Netherlands and South Korea. His photos had appeared in National Geographic Traveller too.
“I came, I saw; I wept a while, then I slept a while” reads a recent post from his blog – ‘Vineet on Earth!’.
According to the police, he lived in Block D with his family. However, he jumped into the ventilation shaft from 19th floor in Block C. His body was found by sweepers when they came to clean the shaft at around 9am. The sweepers informed the society guard and the family was informed about the incident, following which a call was made to the police at around 9:45am.
While his body was found on the ground floor of the shaft, his footwear were found at the 19th floor. Therefore, the cops are assuming that he jumped from there. However, the police will check CCTV footage to verify the details.
“He left early in the morning for a walk but since he was a slow walker, his family assumed that he was still out on his walk when he didn’t return home. A security guard from the society told cops that he had gone to the C block on Saturday too. He probably was contemplating suicide since a day ago,” said ACP Hawa Singh.
Legal formalities including autopsy were completed under Section 174 of CrPC.
