KOLKATA: Masudul Rahman, the ITBP jawan from Bengal’s Nadia district who killed five of his colleagues before shooting himself in Chhattisgarh, had been unable to get married for over a year as he was denied leave. Family members said, his wedding preparations had to be cancelled twice in the past for lack of leave. He had promised to come home for the ceremony scheduled in January 2020.
Rahman, the youngest of three siblings, had joined ITBP in 2008 and was posted in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh, part of Maoist-infested Bastar district. ‘‘My son had been on continuous duty for over a year. He used to say that the authorities were rude. I called him on Wednesday and he asked me to call after 5 pm. He also said many of his colleagues had been denied leave for years,’’ said his mother Hanifa Begum.
His father Marfat Ali Sheikh, a retired police constable, said ‘This time, we scheduled his wedding in January and told him to come on time so that rituals could be completed. But he failed to secure leave again. He was depressed but I advised him to be patient.’’Rahman’s friends expressed shock. ‘‘He was soft and jovial. What’s happened is unbelievable.”