19-year-old navy officer found dead with bullet injury, suspected case of suicide

KOCHI: A 19-year-old junior navy officer was found dead after suffering bullet injury at the Naval Base in Kochi in the early hours of Tuesday. The navy and the police suspect it as a case of suicide. 

The deceased is identified as Thushar Akri, a resident of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. The unmarried sailor was deployed on a guard duty for 12 am to 4 am shift on Tuesday. He was posted at C2 tower at Katari Bagh. "In between 2.30 am and 3.30 am another Navy officer visited the tower for changing the power battery and found the sailor in pool of blood after suffering a bullet injury. It is suspected to be a case of suicide as both the police and the navy are conducting a probe. An unnatural case is registered," said a police official at Harbour Police Station.

The body of the deceased is currently at Navy Hospital which willl be taken to a Government Hospital for postmortem procedure before sending it to the native place. The Navy has formed a statutory board of inquiry to conduct a probe and find out reasons behind the death. In recent years similar suicide incidents were reported from Naval Base in Kochi, mostly out of work pressure and personal issues.