The Navy sailor attached to Coimbatore naval base, believed to have been abducted from outside Chennai airport and died of burns in Palghar district in Maharashtra five days later on February 5, could have committed suicide, according to the Palghar SP, reports reaching here said.

Source: Thanthi Twitter

Chennai:

Palghar SP Dattatray Shinde said the police are probing a possible suicide angle after CCTV footage showed him purchasing fuel from a petrol bunk.

It was believed that 26-year-old Indian Navy sailor Suraj Kumar Mithilesh Dubey was kidnapped from Chennai and taken to Palghar for a ransom and later burnt alive as the ransom was not paid. Dubey was posted to the INS Agrani training facility in Coimbatore.

Dubey had made a statement to the police before dying against three persons who abducted him from outside Chennai airport on January 30. He was flying back after visiting his family in Jharkhand’s Ranchi and his flight landed in Chennai at 9.45 pm.

Palghar SP Dattatray Shinde noted that the police suspect that the young sailor could have made up his abduction story as he had borrowed heavily. The CCTC footage showing him buying fuel at a petrol bunk and withdrawals made in his debit card in Chennai many times had made the police to think of a suicide angle.