Forest jawan shoots self with service rifle in Karimganj; probe underway

An Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) jawan of the Longai forest beat office in Karimganj district reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle on Wednesday night.

The deceased Shankar Chandra Nath (40), son of late Rasendra Chandra Nath, was a resident of Panchgram in Hailakandi district. He had been working at the Longai forest beat office for the past five months. The office falls under Patharkandi constituency, around 135km from Silchar.

According to sources, officials of the forest beat office heard a loud sound that came from Shankar’s room around 8:30pm last night. The officials rushed to his room and found its door open while Shankar lying on the bed, suffering from pain and almost on the verge of death. He had shot on his chest with his service rifle. Shankar was immediately taken to a local hospital, but he did not survive and surrendered to death within a short while, sources said.

Receiving the information, Bazaricherra police station’s officer in-charge Gautam Das, Patharkandi circle officer L. Kiangte and forest ranger Alok Kumar Deb reached there. An inquest was carried out following which the dead body was sent to Karimganj civil hospital for post-mortem. Prime facie, it was not clear why Shankar shot himself.

A source in the forest beat office said Shankar, like other days, was on duty with ranger Alok Kumar Deb and beat officer Narayan Kumar Nandi along with other forest officials on Wednesday. However, his mood was “not okay” and he looked bit disturbed, the source said.

Gautam Das said the matter was being investigated to find out the cause behind the incident. The rifle, with which Shankar shot himself, was recovered and sent to a forensic lab, he said.