Hyogo Police Chief Denies Social Media Rumor About Late Assembly Member; Says Hideaki Takeuchi Was Not Facing Arrest Before His Suicide

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:47 JST, January 21, 2025

KOBE — The chief of the Hyogo prefectural police headquarters has denied a rumor spreading on social media that a former prefectural assembly member, who was found dead on Saturday in an apparent suicide, was facing arrest.

Chief Toshiyuki Murai called the claim “totally groundless” at a meeting of the police standing committee of the prefectural assembly on Monday.

It is extremely unusual for a prefectural police chief to mention a specific case.

The former assembly member, Hideaki Takeuchi, 50, served as a member of the assembly’s special committee to investigate whistleblower allegations against Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito of power harassment and other offenses.

Takeuchi stepped down as an assembly member the day after last November’s gubernatorial election, for what he said were “personal reasons.”

Takeuchi was found unconscious at his home on Saturday and confirmed dead after being taken to a hospital. He appeared to have committed suicide, but the reasons were unknown and it is not clear whether there was a suicide note. According to a person connected to the prefectural government, Takeuchi was distressed by defamatory comments on social media.

At the police standing committee meeting of the prefectural assembly, Murai said: “[Takeuchi] was never voluntarily questioned by police as a suspect and there were absolutely no plans to arrest him.”

He added, “It is extremely regrettable that such obviously false rumors are being spread on social media.”

After the meeting, Murai told reporters: “False rumors should not be allowed to become widespread. We have decided that we need to send a clear message on this issue. If similar false information is spread in the future, we’ll crack down on it very strictly.”

Comments were posted on social media that claimed Takeuchi undergoing voluntary questioning by police.

Takashi Tachibana, the leader of the NHK Party political organization, who ran in the gubernatorial election, posted a video on his YouTube channel on Sunday that said there had been plans to arrest Takeuchi on Monday.

Tachibana later made the video inaccessible. In a video he posted on his YouTube channel after Murai made the comments at the meeting on Monday, Tachibana said, “It was untrue that [Takeuchi] took his own life due to worries that he was about to be arrested. I’d like to apologize.”

Regarding the death of Takeuchi, Gov. Saito, on Monday, told reporters: “It was extremely regrettable. Society as a whole should avoid making social media posts with the intent of defaming others.”