Top chef Benoit Violier, whose restaurant near Lausanne recently topped a list of the world's best, has been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, Swiss police have said. He was 44.

A police statement said Violier was found dead in his home in the municipality of Crissier late on Sunday afternoon.

An investigation has been launched to determine the exact circumstances of the death, police said.

Violier's three-star Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville in Crissier served dishes such as saddle of Pyrenean young lamb and crispy Landes duck foie gras.

Last year it was ranked first on a French government-sponsored list of the world's top 1,000 restaurants.

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