The death of Tata Motors’ Managing Director Karl Slym in Bangkok, Thailand, is being investigated as a potential suicide. Slym’s body was found Sunday morning at his hotel.
Slym, 51, joined Tata in October 2012 to help revamp the company’s product portfolio. Prior to that, Slym held leadership positions at General Motors in China and India as well as at Toyota in the United Kingdom.
According to reports, Slym was facing some difficulties, including marital issues. During the investigation, police found a three-page note, which was initially thought to be a suicide note, in the couple’s hotel room. His wife wrote the letter. Apparently, the pair had been arguing about a family matter and she wrote the note detailing her concerns because she felt she could no longer talk to him about the undisclosed matter.
Additionally, he was due to be interviewed as part of a corporate fraud investigation into General Motors India that led to the recall of over 100,000 cars. General Motors said the company had nothing to hide, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
While Slym had a broad range of responsibilities, he was not directly involved in the company’s automotive brands: Jaguar and Land Rover. Instead, he oversaw the Tata brand’s manufacturing, sales and distribution units to help update Tata’s product portfolio.
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Once the leading auto company in India, it had fallen to third place due, in part, to a lack of new vehicles or improved engines. He was in Thailand attending a meeting of the board of directors for Tata Motors Thailand Ltd., according to a statement released by the company.
“The company shares in the grief of Karl Slym’s wife and family at their irreparable loss,” the statement added.
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Slym’s body was found on Sunday by the staff of the riverside Shangri-la Hotel on the balcony of the fourth floor after plunging from the 22nd floor. There were no signs of a struggle in the British national’s room, which did not have a balcony, but had a big sealed glass window and another smaller window that could be opened.
