BENGALURU: A 28-year-old constable of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle while he was on duty at Kempegowda International Airport on Monday. The deceased is Suresh Vijay Gaekwad, a native of Solapur in Maharashtra. Preliminary investigations revealed that Gaekwad had gone to his native two weeks ago to attend the court for his divorce.
This is suspected to be the reason for his suicide. However, no suicide note was found at the spot and police is yet to talk to his family members. His family has been informed about his death. Medical procedures will be carried out only after the family members reach the city.
His duty was supposed to be over around 1.30pm. He was staying alone in the CISF quarters near the airport.
The spokesperson of CSIF officials from Delhi said an internal enquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact reason behind the suicide. He also denied allegations that work related stress was the reason Gaekwad killed himself. He said that there is no shortage of staff and no one is allowed to work for more than eight hours. Gaekwad’s duty was from 6 am to 1.30 pm.
Police said there are 25 watch towers in the airport premises and CISF personnel are deployed in three shifts. They are also investigating whether he was given enough leaves by the department.
Officials said that he had been home twice in December. And after he returned, he himself cancelled nine days of leave that he had applied for.
However, when Express spoke to the deceased’s colleagues, they alleged that Gaekwad felt pressurised by work and that the officials were diverting the focus by claiming family issue to be the cause behind his death. They also questioned why Gaekwad ended his life on duty after returning from his native. One of them said that if he had a personal or a family crisis, he might have written a suicide note.
‘Seniors treat us badly, we are overworked& stressed’
Suicide of CISF jawan Suresh Vijay Gaekwad has opened a Pandora’s box. Seven CISF personnel on duty at Bengaluru airport Express spoke to on Monday were upset following the death of their colleague.
They complained lack of professionalism at their workplace.Work pressure must have prompted Gaekwad to take the extreme step, they said.“Senior officers treat us very badly and several times we are allowed to sleep only for two hours.
We have also been threatened not to speak to media over the incident,” said two of them. Rajdeep, (name changed), who works at control room office in the airport alleged that officials force them to overwork, telling that we are here to serve the nation and not sleep.“Gaekwad was not allowed to take leaves.
Four days ago, he had shared his problem with one of us who was deployed at the same watch tower,” he said. Another CISF jawan said, “Sometimes we are forced to work at watch towers even without water. I cannot take the work pressure further and have hence decided to resign.”
“Those who are not married are compelled to work beyond their normal working hours as they live in nearby barracks,” he added.