India, Sept. 8 -- Former Delhi chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, 75, who was found dead at his Noida house on Sunday, died by suicide, police said on Tuesday.

Diksha Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Central Noida, said Mehta died by suicide on Sunday. A note in which the 1975 batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer attributed the extreme step to prolonged illness.

Mehta lived alone in a rented accommodation in Kendriya Vihar 2 Society in Noida's Sector 82. His wife, also a retired IAS officer, lives in Dehradun, their hometown, with their son and daughter.

Police said it was his wife who asked the complex's security officer to check on her husband on Sunday when she couldn't get through to him on phone. Their last...