CHENNAI: A 32-year-old IPS officer was on Thursday found dead under mysterious circumstances in his room in the police officers’ mess at Egmore. While the reason for the death of N Harish remains to be ascertained, it is known that his promotion as Superintendent of Police has been delayed for over two years.
A native of Bengaluru, Harish joined the Tamil Nadu cadre in 2009 after securing an all-India rank of 186 in the UPSC exam.
He was serving as the Assistant Superintendent of Police with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in the city. He was transferred to the city only on January 13 from Tallakulam in Madurai, where he was serving as Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP)-Crime.
Around 10.30 am on Thursday, Harish’s driver found him lying unconscious in his first-floor room (No 104). Doctors later confirmed his death. Liquor bottles were recovered from the room. “No suicide note recovered,” an investigating officer said.
Harish’s body was moved to the Rajiv Gandhi GGH for postmortem. “The postmortem is expected to be done only on Friday. Exact reasons for his death can be ascertained only then,” Triplicane Deputy Commissioner Perumal told Express. Preliminary probe suggested that Harish was unhappy over his delayed promotion, when many of his batchmates got promoted.
A senior police officer said, “Harish had not cleared the language paper (Tamil) despite five attempts.” However, that is not the only reason for the delay. Police sources said Harish was facing disciplinary action for his alleged misconduct during training stints at Kilakarai and Tirupaarankundram.