Chennai: In second suicide case in 3 days, sub-inspector ends life in police station
Chennai: A 32-year-old police sub-inspector committed suicide at Ayanavaram police station by shooting himself during the early hours of Wednesday with his 9 mm service pistol. Sub-inspector R. Sathish Kumar, an M Tech graduate, had joined service in 2011 and was serving in the law and order wing at Ayanavaram police since October 2014. “A suicide note has been recovered in which Sathish claimed that no one is responsible for his death,” a police officer said, adding that reason for his suicide is yet to be ascertained.
This is the second incident in three days when a policeman has shot himself. On Sunday, an armed reserve constable M. Arun Raj posted at former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s memorial shot himself with his rifle.
The sub-inspector who left for his quarters in T P Chatram at around 8 pm on Tuesday after duty, returned to the police station at around 1. 30 am. Special sub-inspector Chiranjeevi was on duty at the station and the SI told him that he had to leave for an enquiry and needed the pistol. After the pistol was handed over to him, he was seen scribbling on a piece of paper and placing it on a desk.
“He then walked out of the station, returned inside and placed the pistol to his forehead,” a senior police officer quoted SSI Chiranjeevi as saying. Alarmed, the SSI pleaded with Satish Kumar to drop the weapon. It was then that Satish pointed the pistol towards Chiranjeevi for a moment and then walked outside the station and shot himself through his right ear. Police moved him to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Top brass of the city police including commissioner A.K. Viswanathan rushed to the station and conducted enquiries. “The sequence of events was captured on CCTV cameras inside and outside the police station,” a police officer said.
The suicide note written had claimed that no one was responsible for his death and had the phone numbers of his elder brother, Ganesh Kumar and cousin, Radha. Bereaved family members claimed that his death was mysterious and demanded a detailed investigation. Known to be close to his elder brother R. Ganesh Kumar, Satish met him on Tuesday and played with his two-year-old nephew before he left.
“There were no symptoms of depression when I spoke to him. We have not seen the suicide note yet too,” Ganesh Kumar told mediapersons.
A native of Melayur in Thanjavur district, Satish Kumar is the second of three sons in his family. He was a bachelor and lived at the TP Chatram police quarters. Further investigations are on.
