Third suicide at SHAR in as many days

Tirupati: Another tragedy struck Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR), with the wife of a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) sub-inspector, who committed suicide on January 16 night, reportedly hanging herself at SHAR’s Narmada guest house in Sullurpet of Tirupati district on intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is the third case of suicide reported within three days on the premises of the spaceport in Sriharikota. On January 15, CISF constable T. Chintamani (29) hanged himself to death from a tree at the PCMC Radar-1 site in SHAR. On January 16, CISF sub-inspector Vikas Singh (30) shot himself with his service weapon and died on the spot while on duty at the Space Launch Centre.

While constable Chintamani’s body has been shifted to his native place Sankara in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district by CISF after the autopsy, SI Vikas's wife Priya Singh and other family members had arrived at Sullurpet to attend an inquiry by police.

Just as CISF started making arrangements to shift the body of Vikas to his native Ruripara in UP’s Hamirpur district, his wife Priya was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the guest house of SHAR on Wednesday morning.

“Priya Singh broke down into tears after seeing the dead body of her husband. After attending the enquiry, she went to the guest house and stayed there with her family. On Wednesday morning, the family members noticed her hanging from the ceiling and informed police. She is suspected to have died by suicide, as she could not bear the death of her husband,” a senior police officer stated.

Asked about reasons for suicides by two CISF personnel on successive days, the police officer said, prima facie it looks like they took the extreme step due to family-related issues. The official maintained that none of the family members of both the deceased personnel had complained of any harassment by senior CISF officials.

“However, investigators are not ignoring this angle and a detailed probe is underway,” the officer stated.