DHARAMSHALA, MAY 19: Tsona Gontse Rinpoche, a Buddhist Lama from Arunachal Pradesh and a former minister in the Arunchal government, was found hanging in his South Delhi apartment on Friday night, reported the Times of India.
Police said the Rinpoche’s body was sent for postmortem, which confirmed death by hanging.
His devotees had told TOI that he was upset over a relative of his losing polls from a seat in Arunachal Pradesh. Police said they are trying to find out the 47-year-old monk’s exact cause of death.
Police have recovered a letter written in Tibetan from Rinpoche’s room. The letter has been sent for forensic examination.
The body was handed over to his devotees and flown to his native village in Bomdilla in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday night.
He was also elected as a minister of state in the Arunachal government in 2004 after contesting on a Congress ticket.
He had recently visited his hometown and returned to Delhi on May 2.
Sources said that the Rinpoche had stopped talking to his devotees for the last few days and had apparently written in the letter that he was sad about his activities and sought forgiveness from God.
Born on 19th August 1967 at Nyesar Zhungpa Tse, Mon Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, Tsona Gontse Rinpoche was recognized as the 13th re-incarnation of Tsonawa Jetsun Sherab Zangpo by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
He started his education at Drepung Loseling Monastery, South India and graduated with the degree of Geshe Lharampa (Degree equivalent to Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy).
He ran an NGO called Sherab Sangpo Society which undertakes various social and religious activities. Rinpoche started a Buddhist program on ZEE network’s devotional channel Zee Jagran to teach Buddhism to a larger audience.
