Agra: Leading aircraftman of IAF shoots himself to death in Chhattisgarh Express with sub-machine gun

AGRA: A non-commissioned airman of Indian Air Force allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service standard issued sub-machine gun in Chhattisgarh Express.
The victim was identified as leading aircraftman B Venkatesh (23) of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. A resident of Chintu Vani Peta village of Narasannapeta Urlam of Srikakulam district, Venkatesh was traveling in cabin number four of AC first class coach (HA1) from Amla (Madhya Pradesh) to Halwara (Punjab) on official assignment.
According to police, Venkatesh shot himself at around 3:30pm by his 9mm carbine while the train was between Morena and Dholpur railway stations on Thursday afternoon. “The victim was in his uniform when he shot himself in head. The bullet penetrated from left side of his skull. His colleague, corporal Arun Kumar Yadav who was in cabin number three of HA 1 coach, and another co-passenger Avinash Yadav, a resident of Kanpur, were the first persons to reach Venkatesh cabin after hearing the bullet shot. The two alerted the train ticket examiner for help,” said Sachin Kaushik, media in-charge of Agra GRP division.
Senior superintendent of police, Agra division GRP, Abhishek Yadav said, “Prima facie it looks to be suicide but there was no suicide note recovered from the victim possession. By the time one could get medical help, the train had passed Dholpur railway station. An hour later when train reached Agra Cantt, the victim was declared dead by doctors. His body has been sent for autopsy, and his family members have been informed about the incident.”
“The victim was on official assignment and was returning to his Halwara airforce base. The two testimony of civilian co-passenger and victim’s colleagues suggest that B Venkatesh shot himself and there was no other person in his cabin at the time of incident,” added SSP GRP.
Leading aircraftman B Venkatesh had joined Indian Airforce on April 21, 2017.