Central Force jawan shoots himself dead on poll duty

A Central Force jawan on Friday shot himself to death while performing poll duty at Gosaba in South 24-Parganas.

The election in the district is scheduled to take place on April 30 and 333 companies of Central Forces were deployed in the district to assure free and fair elections.

Police said that Jasai Hansda, the constable of 505B company, was posted at booth number 45 at Battali Mondalpara Shishu Shiksha Kendra.

Suddenly his colleagues heard a sound of firing and rushed to the spot to find him lying in a pool of blood. He had shot himself on his head and died on the spot.

Policemen from Gosaba police station and other senior police officers in the district rushed to the spot. The body was sent for an autopsy.

Later the senior police officers spoke to other jawans of the same company. But they told the police that they had not seen anything suspicious in his behaviour.

But for the past few days he used to keep a bit quiet. But the matter didn’t seem to be that serious as he spoke normally when someone interacted with him.

When asked whether anything went wrong, he told his colleagues that his health was not well.

He was posted at various places during the previous four phases of elections in the state and performed his duty following all orders of his seniors, his colleagues told the police.

A police officer said the victim’s family members were contacted and they can tell whether he was passing through any trouble or he was suffering from any depression.