BHOPAL: A retired district and sessions judge allegedly died by suicide at his home here, a police official said on Wednesday.

Prem Sinha (63), who was under treatment for depression, took the extreme step in the early hours of Tuesday, Habibganj police station in-charge Manish Raj Bhadoria said, quoting the judge's family members.

According to a suicide note recovered from the spot where Sinha was found hanging, he took the extreme step as he was disturbed after getting "negative" thoughts.

After he retired as the district and sessions judge from Umaria, Sinha was posted as a member of a tribunal in the state.

Family members told the police that he had been depressed for the last one to two months and started living in a lonely place. They also took him to a doctor for treatment, Bhadoria said.

On Monday night, he was sleeping in his room. His wife raised an alarm around 4 a.m. when she did not find him on the bed. She then saw him hanging from a tin shade on their premises, he said.

The family immediately brought Sinha down and rushed him to a hospital where doctors declared him dead after examination, the official said, adding that further investigations were underway.