Sahni committed suicide, confirms inquiry report
LUCKNOW: After over six-weeklong inquiry, the state police authorities could not establish any concrete reason behind the alleged suicide of additional superintendent of police (ASP) of UP Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) Rajesh Sahni.
The inquiry in the matter, however, confirmed that Sahni had committed suicide by shooting himself with a service pistol.
Additional director general (ADG) of police, Lucknow zone, Rajeev Krishna had submitted a detailed report with UP director general of police (DGP) OP Singh over the incident.
The ADG has clearly mentioned in the report that Sahni had committed suicide by shooting himself with a service pistol while sitting on chair inside his office chamber at ATS headquarters in Gomtinagar, Lucknow on May 29. The DGP had ordered the ADG to conduct the inquiry in suspected suicide of Sahni after conspiracy theories started doing the rounds on May 30.
The DGP confirmed that ADG Krishna had submitted a report to him few days ago and he is further reviewing the report before forwarding it to the state government. He said the report reads that ASP Rajesh Sahni ended his life by shooting himself but the ADG had failed to analyse the exact reason behind Sahni’s suicide and termed it ‘a decision
taken in a spur of the moment’. He said the ADG has made some observations and recommendations in his report.
As per the report, the ADG has consulted multiple forensic experts that suggested that gun powder was present on Sahni’s right hand after his death and the pistol was lying alongside. The ADG mentioned in the report that the circumstances suggested that Sahni shot himself on the right side of his temple using the same pistol. The report reads that Sahni had used a service weapon to shoot himself dead after asking his driver to get it issued from the ATS armoury. Moreover, the detailed examination suggested that there is no forced entry in his room.
The ADG recorded the statements of multiple people including inspector general (IG) of ATS Asim Arun, superintendent of police ATS Joginder Kumar, Sahni’s driver Manoj and his family members to find reason behind suicide but in vain.
He mentioned in the report that he consulted a psychiatrist to know the reason and mental status of Sahni before the incident, but could not come out with any conclusive decision. On May 31, the state government had recommended the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into the mysterious death of ATS officer Rajesh Sahni in his office but the central agency is yet to take a call on the case. The CBI team of Lucknow regional office had collected documents related to Sahni’s death on June 1 and had sent the field report to higher authorities of the agency to take further decision on the case.