IPOH: A man left a message and bade farewell to his wife before he was found dead with slash wounds on his neck, behind a factory in Dataran Kledang Menglembu here today.
The body of the 58-year-old man was found by a passer-by, who then alerted the police.
District deputy police chief, Superintendent Mohamad Nordin Abdullah, said the man had earlier contacted his wife via WhatsApp.
The man, he said, had told his wife to take all the savings in the bank for her and the children and ended the message with 'bye'.
"Checks on the victim's body showed a 16-cm gash at the neck.
"Police also found a meat cleaver next to the victim, which was believed to have been used in the incident.
"The victim's mobile phone and identification card were still with him," he said.
He said preliminary investigations showed that the victim, who runs a wholesale factory business and supplies fish to markets, was suffering from depression due to financial woes.
He said it was learnt that the victim had also tried to commit suicide about three years ago but was unsuccessful.
"Doctors confirmed that the cause of death was due to the gash on the victim's neck. A post-mortem examination on his body will be conducted to establish the exact cause of death.
"For now, the case has been classified as sudden death," he said.