In a suspected case of suicide, senior TDP leader and former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao died here on Monday, police said.
Based on eye-witness accounts, Rao was suspected to have committed suicide, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) AR Srinivas said without elaborating.
Replying to questions, he, however, said it can be confirmed only after post-mortem.
The 72-year old leader was last month slapped with a criminal case by the Andhra Pradesh police for alleged illegal possession of furniture of the assembly.
A medical doctor, he is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter.
Rao was rushed to the Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital in an 'unresponsive' state from his house here around 11 AM, but died without responding to efforts to revive him, the DCP and the hospital said.
"The family members are telling that he was under stress for the past few days but the reasons for it are still not known," the DCP said.
The hospital in a release said Rao was brought at 11.35 am "in an unresponsive state". As per protocol resuscitative measures were initiated immediately.
"In spite of best efforts of the medical team at Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital, he could not be revived and declared dead at 12.39 pm," its Chief Executive Officer Dr R V Prabhakara Rao said.
No suicide note had been found, the DCP said adding investigation was on under an Assistant Commissioner of Police rank officer.
His death comes weeks after Andhra Pradesh police on August 25 filed the case against him under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of IPC on a complaint from an official of the assembly.
The ruling YSR Congress in AP had dubbed Kodela a 'thief' who stole the Legislature property, a charge denied by him. He had then said as a Speaker he was the "custodian" of the assembly property and took the furniture and ACs to his premises for "safe custody" after they were retrieved from Hyderabad (old Assembly).
TDP polit bureau member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy told media that he and other TDP leaders visited the hospital after coming to know about Raos death.
A six-time MLA from Guntur district, Rao was the Andhra assembly Speaker from 2014 to 2019.
He lost the elections in May this year from Sattenapalli constituency in Guntur district.
Rao had been a member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) since its inception and had served as a minister holding key portfolios, including Home, Major Irrigation, and Health, during the rules of TDP founder late N T Rama Rao and his successor N Chandrababu Naidu.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and several other leaders condoled the death of Siva Prasada Rao.
