Gujarat sailor dies of bullet injury at Kochi's naval base
KOCHI: In a suspected case of suicide, a 23-year-old sailor died of a bullet injury at the Naval Base in Kochi on Sunday.
Rakshit Kumar Parmar, from Kheda district in Gujarat, a sailor with Electrical Mechanician (Power) II, suffered the injury from a bullet fired from his own service gun while on duty on board INS Jamuna, a ship under the Southern Naval Command (SNC) at Kochi.
"The incident occurred at about 07:30 am Sunday when the sailor sustained a serious injury due to a gunshot fired from his duty weapon, which he was carrying while performing the duty of security sentry on board INS Jamuna," said a Navy spokesman in a press release here.
The injured sailor was immediately rushed to the naval hospital INHS Sanjivani, where he could not be revived and was declared dead at 09.40 am. A case of unnatural death has been registered with the police and a Board of Inquiry (BoI) has been ordered by Southern Naval Command to investigate the incident, the release added.
When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mattancherry, S Vijayan said as per the preliminary inquiry conducted by the police, it is a suspected case of suicide. "The bullet was fired from the sailor's official gun. It appears to have entered from under the sailor's chin and exited from his skull. We have registered a case of unnatural death and suicide," he said.
However, Navy officers have not yet ascertained whether the incident was accidental misfiring or a suicide. A team led by Harbour Police SI is investigating the case.
Rakshit's family in Gujarat has been informed about the incident. The sailor is survived by his parents and a brother. His body will be handed over to them after the postmortem, said police officers.