Photo/Illutration Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke is driven into Tokyo’s Meguro Police Station on the morning of June 27. (Jin Nishioka)

Tokyo police arrested popular Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke over his role in a botched family suicide attempt that claimed the lives of both his parents.

Specifically, police suspect he helped his 75-year-old mother kill herself at their home in the capital’s Meguro Ward by supplying her with prescription sleeping pills between the evening of May 17 and the following morning.

The 47-year-old actor, whose real name is Takahiko Kinoshi, also attempted suicide before being found on May 18, the same day a weekly magazine came out with a story about his alleged involvement in a sexual abuse and power harassment scandal.

An autopsy found that Ennosuke’s mother died from psychotropic drug poisoning on May 17 or 18.

His Kabuki actor father, Ichikawa Danshiro, and his mother were discovered in the living room on the second floor of the home they shared with their son. They were found lying on their backs covered by futon around 10:15 a.m. on May 18.

His mother was already dead. His father, who was 76, was confirmed dead after being rushed to a hospital.

Ennosuke was found in a dazed state in his semi-basement room of the home with an apparent suicide note.

He, too, was rushed to a hospital but his condition was not life-threatening. He was released from the hospital on May 19.

He has since stayed in another hospital.

According to investigative sources, the Metropolitan Police Department has questioned Ennosuke on multiple occasions on a voluntary basis.

Ennosuke told police that all three of them decided to commit suicide by ingesting his prescription sleeping pills after a family talk.

Ennosuke also told police he covered his parents’ faces with plastic bags after the pills knocked them out.

MPD investigators are trying to determine how many sleeping pills his parents took.

By studying the scene of the deaths and comparing it with Ennosuke’s accounts, police concluded that he must have helped his mother commit suicide.

Ennosuke lived with his parents alone at home.

On the morning of May 18, a weekly magazine went on sale reporting his alleged involvement in a sexual abuse and power harassment scandal.

MPD investigators believe the family opted to commit suicide rather than live with shame that the scandal would bring.

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