Tata Motors executive Karl Slym dies in Thailand in suspected suicide

By VCPOST Staff Reporter

Jan 27, 2014 08:02 AM EST

Tata Motors Ltd managing director Karl Slym, 51, died after falling from the 22nd floor of a hotel in Bangkok. Police suspect Slym committed suicide, according to Reuters.

Slym was in Thailand to attend a company board meeting and was staying in the Shangri-La hotel with his wife. On Sunday, hotel staff found his body on the fourth floor, a level that juts out above the lower floors.

Police Lieutenant Somyot Boonyakaew explained: "We didn't find any sign of a struggle. We found a window open. The window was very small so it was not possible that he would have slipped. He would have had to climb through the window to fall out because he was a big man. From my initial investigation we believe he jumped."

The police found a note written in English, which they were translating into the local language. On Monday, an autopsy on Slym's body will be conducted, the report stated.

A British national, Slym was hired in 2012 to raise Tata's fluctuating sales in India. The company had struggled in the passenger vehicle market in India as local and foreign competitors released new models. A Tata spokeswoman declined to comment on Slym's possible cause of death, Reuters reported.

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