The reason behind the alleged suicide is yet unknown. The body has been sent for post-mortem. (Representational Image)
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) hawaldar was found dead inside the armory of the Bijnor CRPF camp in Lucknow on Saturday. Police suspect the hawaldar committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with an AK-47.
The deceased, identified as 45-year-old Aravind Kumar Singh, was a resident of Meerut. He was also the camp mess commander and was about to leave charge.
The reason behind the alleged suicide is yet unknown. The body has been sent for post-mortem. No suicide note has been recovered from the spot, police said.
“ The CRPF hawaldar committed suicide at around 1 pm at the armory of the CRPF camp in the Sarojini Nagar police station area. As per our investigation so far, at around 12.50 pm, hawaldar Aravind Kumar Singh went inside the armory, took an AK-47 kept on the gun stand and shot himself in the head. He was then taken to a CRPF doctor who declared him dead,” said Sarojini Nagar circle officer (CO) Lal Pratap Singh.
SP (East) Sarvesh Mishra said CCTV footage shows Aravind coming on his bicycle to the camp and going into the guard room while talking on his phone. The gunshot was heard after around a minute, Mishra said.
“In our primary investigation, it appears to be a case of suicide. At the time of incident, a CRPF personnel named Hanif sleeping inside the guard room… After hearing the gunshot, he was seen running out of the armory in his vest and pant. Hanif can again be seen going inside the armory and coming back with his uniform, shoes and the rifle. Inside the armory, there is a stand for the off-duty personnel to keep their guns… Aravind used one of these guns to shoot himself,” Mishra said.
“The gun with which Aravind shot himself was on auto-mode… While no suicide note was found with the deceased, we have been told that he was an alcoholic and used to be questioned for the same often. We will get his call details and find out who he was taking on the phone,” he added.