A 35-year-old CRPF jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in the rebel-hit Latehar district, around 110km from Ranchi, on Saturday morning.
This is the second such incident within a span of eight days.

The deceased jawan, who was in the 133 CRPF battalion close to the Manika block headquarters, has been identified as Praveen Mochari from Dubagaon in Assam’s Baksa district. He had come back from his native place on December 9.

Latehar SP Prashant Anand confirmed the suicide.

“The jawan had recently returned from his native place and seemed depressed. We can only speculate that it might be because of some domestic reason. However, we have not found any suicide note. The body has been sent for post-mortem to Latehar Sadar Hospital. He had killed himself using his service rifle. The number of bullets that had been fired can only be determined after the post-mortem,” Anand said.

Sources in Manika thana revealed that the jawan was deputed in Latehar for nearly a year and had shot one bullet from his Insas rifle that pierced his head, leading to his instantaneous death near the guard’s room of the battalion.

The administration has deputed Manika circle inspector Vimal Kumar Singh as the magistrate and a case of unnatural death has been registered at the local thana.

CRPF officials have informed senior officials at Chaibasa and Delhi about the incident.

On the evening of December 18, a CRPF jawan with the 214 battalion identified as Abhishek Kumar, a native of Nalanda district of Bihar, had also committed suicide by shooting himself from his service rifle under Latehar Sadar thana area in the same district inside the CRPF campus.

The jawan had got married a year ago and had returned from home on December 12. Domestic disputes were attributed as reasons for the suicide. However, no suicide note was recovered from the spot and a case of unnatural death was registered before the body was sent for post mortem at Latehar Sadar Hospital.