Financial crisis drives Head Constable to commit suicide, police smell rat

Despite mentioning in the suicide note that he committed suicide for financial stress, police suspect foul play in the case of his death and is investigating it from all plausible angles.

“The Head Constable has been identified as Sanjay Prasad, a resident of Sahibabad in Ghaziabad. He was living there with his wife — Leela, who is a policewoman posted in Delhi Police Headquarters in the administration unit. He is also survived by two children — a 14-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son and his father was a retired policeman from Delhi Police’s Communication Unit,” said Jitendra Mani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Metro). The incident took place at around 2.35 pm when he went to platform number 2 and jumped in front of the Metro train that was going towards Rajeev Chowk. According to the eyewitnesses, the driver of the train could not apply emergency brakes at that time and Prasad was dragged for a few meters on the track before he died.

The incident triggered chaos on the platform with a number of people gathering to see what had happened. Officials said that they had to halt Metro services for 30 minutes till Prasad’s body was pulled out.

A suicide note written in Hindi was found from his pocket that read that he was suffering from depression and was undergoing treatment at RML Hospital. Also due to financial crisis, he was committing suicide and no one was to be blamed for his extreme step. “It is hard to believe that Prasad was suffering from financial crisis as he along with his wife were earning sufficient money from their respective jobs with Delhi Police. His retired father was also getting pension,” a senior official privy to investigation said. During probe, it came to light that a few minutes before he committed suicide, Prasad was at RML Hospital where his son was undergoing a minor ear operation. Before leaving the hospital, he informed his father that he is going somewhere and would return in a while.

Meanwhile, his family members told police that he often used to talk about ending his life. The exact reason behind this could not be ascertained by his family members too. His friends, colleagues and family members will be questioned. In the meantime, the cops are scrutinising the CCTV footage.