Denial of Leave Led to DSP's Suicide?

Was denial of leave the reason for the deputy superintendent of police of Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) to commit suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver? An internal probe conducted by ISW officials is understood have pointed out that an argument took place between the DSP, K Suresh Rao, and his superior on the issue of leave. “Minutes after an argument had taken place with his superior, Rao, who was mentally ill and suffered from a chronic disease, rushed to his chamber and shot himself. The internal probe says higher officials did  not sanction leave due to staff crunch,” sources told Express. Last Friday, Suresh Rao, a resident of Ramanthapur, had gone to his office around 2.30 pm to apply for leave. Before leaving home, he told his wife Rekha that he was going to the office to apply for leave and would return home by evening. Around 4.15 pm, an ISW staffer called up Rekha and informed her that Suresh Rao was admitted to a hospital due to ill health. According to an internal probe, a majority of ISW employees from the rank of Reserve SI to DSP are being coerced by higher officials to do additional work and also on extra days due to staff crunch. As such, Suresh Rao not only suffered from a chronic disease but also came under intense pressure of work. Following the suicide, ISW officials are thinking of holding workshops for the staff on how to overcome stress and depression. This has become essential as a majority of ISW staff have service weapons. Following the probe report, ISW officials have held a review meeting and decided to withdraw guards given to 180 VVIPs and VIPs including MLAs, MLCs and MPs. Besides, an intelligence report says that the VVIPs and VIPs do not have any threat to their lives. Meanwhile, the AP government has permitted CID chief Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao to purchase a weapon such as non-prohibited revolver/pistol from any one of the arms dumps of Andhra Pradesh, subject to usual terms and conditions stipulated by the Union ministry of home affairs. Tirumala Rao, holder of Arms Licence No. 10/Home/2013, applied on February 6, 2013 for permission to buy a weapon. The government acceded to his request on the usual terms and conditions. The conditions include allotment of firearms to eligible categories of persons as indicated in the guidelines issued by the Centre, shall be made to applicants facing an existing threat to their lives in the assessment of the allotting authority, no individual will be entitled to allotment of more than one firearm by any authority during his life time, the particulars of such allotment shall be entered in the licence of the allottee, the allottee should possess a valid licence for possession of a firearm of the category to be allotted, the firearm should be in serviceable condition and contain the name of the manufacturer, distinguishing mark, number etc., and meet other conditions prescribed in the Arms Act and Rules.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com