Minutes before he shoot himself with his service revolver inside the Supreme Court complex on Monday morning, Head Constable Chandra Pal Singh — deployed in the Supreme Court security team since April 2014 — had reached for his duty half-and-hour before the scheduled time.
Talking to the Pioneer, a police officer, posted at the Security unit said, "It all happened so suddenly. We heard a gunshot and rushed to the sentry post and found Pal lying on the ground with all over. He walked up to the sentry post and shot himself dead."
Senior police officers said a suicide note was found from Pal's pocket. However, the Officers denied commenting on the contents of the note. The incident created quite a stir in the highly secured Supreme Court complex. Officials ran towards the main gate after hearing the gunshot and they found Pal lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
He was rushed to Ram Manohar lohia hospital and his post mortem was conducted at the lady Hardinge hospital. later his family members took his body to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh for the last rites, police said.
Meanwhile, a police source said Pal was under depression because of family reasons. He was allegedly facing some marital discord besides having dispute over property with his family members, including his father and brother.
BK Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), said the incident took place around 8.15 am at the sentry post, which was 50 meters away from the security booth at the G-gate of the apex court. Police said the G-gate is primarily used for entry and exit by Supreme Court staff.
"Pal shot himself in his chest using his service revolver. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead," the DCP said. Police said Pal's family was duly informed about the tragic incident.
According to the DCP, Pal was in the morning shift duty, from 7 am to 1 pm. "We are trying to find out if Pal was under stress and what forced him to take his own life. The CCTV footage of the area is also being looked into," said Singh. A probe under Section 174 of the CrPC has been initiated.
Police said Pal is survived by his wife and two children. They lived in sector 4 of police colony in South Delhi's RK Puram area.