The British boss of an Indian car giant left a three-page note in his hotel room before plunging to his death, it was revealed today.
Karl Slym, head of Tata Motors, appeared to have fallen from a room on the 22nd floor of a five-star hotel in Bangkok yesterday morning.
But today police said they believe the businessman, originally from Derby, may have jumped after they discovered a handwritten letter.
“We didn’t find any sign of a struggle,” said police lieutenant Somyot Boonyakaew, who is leading the investigation. “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 51-year-old was discovered at the foot of the Shangri-La hotel in the city’s upmarket Yannawa district at around 7.45am yesterday. He had checked into the hotel with his wife Sally on Friday and had been due to check out yesterday.
Officers called to the scene had to wake up Mr Slym’s wife who had no idea what had happened.
Mr Slym, who had been hired to boost car sales at India’s Tata Motors, a subsidiary of the Tata Steel conglomerate, was on a business trip to Bangkok.
In his tribute, Tata chairman Cyrus P Mistry said he was “a valued colleague who was providing strong leadership at a challenging time for the Indian auto industry”.
He added: “In this hour of grief, our thoughts are with Karl’s wife and family.”
Mr Slym, who took the India-based job in 2012, had lived in seven different countries with his wife.
In a previous interview with Forbes India he said they found it the most difficult place to settle in.
“Both my wife and I have said that India is the most difficult country to get used to. There are some things you fight and you don’t accept when you get here,” he said.
The British-born executive ran all Tata Motors’ operations except Jaguar Land Rover in the UK.
Read More
Mr Slym had worked for Toyota in the UK, and then General Motors in India and China. He had been managing director of Tata Motors, part of the giant Tata Group, since October 2012.
