An American man has died after setting himself on fire in an abandoned Buddhist center in north-western India, leaving a cryptic suicide note that blamed his death on "cruel incidents" in his homeland and India, police said Thursday.
The charred body of Jeff Canabel, a 72-year-old Californian, was found by villagers at a meditation site in Rajasthan state, said Mohan Singh, a superintendent of police. Canabel's note says "I am killing myself because of cruel incidents in both the US and in India," he wrote, according to police.
The note contained a request that only police handle his body and instructions that the 45,000 rupees ($1,000) in his bag be given to the poor. It did not explain his motivations further. Canabel had been living in India for the past five years, and police said he had recently been visiting villages in the Rajasthan to talk to people about the teachings of India's independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.