VIJAYAWADA: When Gods are against me, who can help me out? God has to forgive me. I request my superior officers to extend help to my family. I apologise to all my colleagues for this decision to end my life. I lost my credibility - these were among the last words scribbled by David Raju, the head constable and writer at the Gannavaram police station who committed suicide near here Saturday.
As the probable reasons for his suicide trickled in - harassment and false accusations of misappropriation of cash seized in police raids being the major among them - circle inspector for the Gannavaram police station, Mohammad Ali, was placed under suspension on Sunday for gross negligence in supervisory functions and non-administrative activities.
An inquiry by Deputy Commissioner of Police Koya Praveen has also been initiated to get to the bottom of the tragic turn of events.
Tanagala Devakrupa David Raju (55) shot himself with a service revolver at Mustabada village in Gannavaram mandal on Saturday morning.
Even a day after the incident, the suicide note left behind by Raju has not been made public by the police officials, fuelling speculation that at least `12 lakh seized in recent raids and lodged at the Gannavaram police station may have been misappropriated and Raju blamed for the same. Nonetheless, sources in the department gave out a few details of the two-page note written in English.
When contacted, Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang said he had instructed all the 20 police stations under the commissionerate a month ago to deposit all the unaccounted money in bank.
There was a certain amount left in the Gannavaram station and there was mishandling of issues at the station. Hence, the suspension. Other police officers will also be punished if found guilty in the ongoing inquiry, he added. Asked about the suicide note, Sawang clarified that Raju had neither mentioned misuse of money at the Gannavaram police station nor accused any officer of harassment.
Instead, he asked forgiveness from God and sought help from the department and his relatives for his family members, he added.
Raju’s co-brother Daniel, however, told Express that the head constable had confided to his wife Elizabeth Rani several times about the harassment by the circle inspector.
“David told his wife he felt like ending his life because of the circle inspector’s harassment over the misuse of unaccounted money (seized in raids) by other police officers,” Daniel, said.
The Gannavaram station constables are trying to take up the issue with the State Police Officers’ Association as they are angered over the harassment of Raju and the way he was made a scapegoat.
Sources told Express the circle inspector had taken Raju to task for the misuse of the seized cash by officers of the SI rank and a court constable.
They said this may have prompted him to take the extreme step.
Shakespeare’s fan
Raju was a fan of the bard William Shakespeare. One of his close acquaintances, also a constable, told Express that he could read out Shakespeare’s plays at a stretch fluently. Raju’s co-brother Daniel recalled that he was a voracious reader.