A police official in Kampong Chhnang province was found dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound yesterday just hours after being suspended from duty over allegations he had assaulted his mistress.

Provincial deputy police chief in charge of crime Pol Vuthy said that the deceased, Tep Sarath, chief of the Provincial Minor Crimes Bureau, was found around 5pm on a bed in his office with a pistol nearby.

“Our police are still investigating whether he shot himself or was murdered.”

Before Sarath’s body was found, provincial police chief Prak Vuthy said that he had reviewed a complaint made by Sarath’s mistress, and had decided that Sarath had in fact attacked her.

“I already inked the letter to suspend his work in the morning, and required him to come to the personnel office to prepare his case for the General Commissariat of National Police,” he said.

Plaintiff Duk Dilom, 42, said yesterday before Sarath was found dead that he had approached her at her house, struck her three times in the face and gotten into a scuffle with a friend of hers at the scene.