The police said the incident occurred at around 1 pm at the premises of the 1st Manipur Battalion campus, where Kumar’s office is located. (Representational)

A top police officer in Manipur purportedly shot himself in the head in his Imphal office on Saturday before being rushed to a hospital where his condition is said to be stable.

Doctors said Additional Director General of Police Arvind Kumar suffered skull damage and a brain injury, which is not severe. Kumar is in charge of law and order in the Manipur police department.

“Surgery was conducted on him and now he is out of danger. He is responding well to treatment”, said a doctor.

The police said the incident occurred at around 1 pm at the premises of the 1st Manipur Battalion campus, where Kumar’s office is located. It is learnt that he shot himself under the chin with his service pistol—the bullet exited from his left temple.

Manipur Chief Secretary Dr J Suresh Babu and Director General of Police (DGP) LM Khaute visited the officer at the hospital.

“He is conscious, responding to whatever the doctors are asking him. He is very lucky to be alive with the nature of injury he sustained,” said Babu.

Asked if the injured officer was facing any trouble, the DGP said, “I had a meeting with Arvind Kumar about two days ago and he was perfectly fine. In fact, he is a fine officer”.

Chief Secretary Babu said the ADGP will be shifted to New Delhi for further treatment once his condition becomes stable. “Kumar is a good police officer. He came back to Manipur after his long stint from Intelligence Bureau. It is a very unfortunate incident and we don’t know yet what could be the reason behind it,” he said.

Kumar is a 1992-batch IPS officer of the Manipur cadre.

He had joined the state police department around four months back, said sources. Previously, he was on deputation at the Intelligence Bureau.