Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Two CRPF personnel committed suicide in Kashmir today by shooting themselves with their service rifles, the force officials said.
The first incident took place in Mattan area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district where a CRPF Sub Inspector identified as Fatah Singh of 96 battalion shot himself dead with his service rifle. He left behind a suicide note that read: “I am afraid, I may have Corona.”
Barely an hour after, A CRPF Assistant Sub-Inspector Bengali Babu committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle at his 49th battalion camp in Srinagar.
In the first case, the police said that they followed the proper protocol and took the samples of the deceased sub-inspector to find out whether he was infected with Covid. “His post-mortem has been conducted and now we are waiting for his report which is expected to come in the evening,” a police officer said.
CRPF spokesperson in Srinagar said two CRPF personnel have committed suicide in Kashmir in the morning. “Our men are not able to see their families since the lockdown. This may be one of the reasons why they took the extreme step. We are still trying to look as to what forced them to commit suicide,” he said.
Talking to NVI exclusively, Special Director General of CRPF for (J&K), Zulfikar Hassan said that two “unfortunate incidents” have happened since morning in Kashmir. “We are trying to find out what prompted these boys to shoot themselves. This is being looked into,” he said.
Asked whether the lockdown has increased the stress levels among the CRPF personnel in Kashmir, Hassan said that constant de-stressing exercises, lessons and frequent counseling sessions are being given to the CRPF men deployed across J&K. “We are ascertaining what led these two boys to take the extreme step,” he said.
