Additional SP of ATS and 1992 batch PPS officer, Rajesh Sahni shot himself under mysterious circumstances in his cabin at ATS headquarters in Gomti Nagar on Tuesday noon. Sahni also served in STF and NIA earlier.
ADG law and Order, Anand Kumar said that prime facie, it seemed to be suicide and the police were investigating. He however dismissed media querries that Sahni took the extreme step as he was under a lot of work pressure.
As per reports, Sahni was on leave since Monday as he was schedule to fly with daughter Shreya to Mumbai on Tuesday evening to get her admitted to a reputed social science instuitute (TISS) there.
But around 11 am, the Additional SP left his Reserve Police lines home in his official vehicle after being called by a senior ATS official at the Gomti Nagar headquarters.
Upon reaching the headquarters, it is reported that Sahni met the senior ATS official for a brief time and later headed to his chamber. Some time later, the officer called his constable driver Manoj inside his chamber and asked him to bring his service pistol which he had forgot in his vehicle parked outside the office.
Some time later, Manoj handed him over the pistol and was asked by the Additional SP to be ready as he had to leave shortly. But around 12.45 pm, Manoj heard a gunshot inside Sahni’s chamber and rushed inside to find him leaning towards the left side of his chair with the floor splattered with blood.
Constable Manoj immediately informed IG of ATS Aseem Arun and SSP, ATS Jogendra Kumar. Both reached Sahni’s chamber to find him lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound on his right temple. They later informed ADG law and Order, Anand Kumar over the phone.
A little later, senior officers swarmed the ATS headquarters including DIG (law and Order) Praveen Kumar, SSP of lucknow Deepak Kumar and others. The area was cordoned off from the reach of mediamen and forensic experts were summoned to examine the scene and collect relevant evidence.
Preliminary probe indicated that the bullet pierced Sahani’s head and it hit against a wall before ricocheting and hitting an almirah inside the chamber.
SSP, lucknow, Deepak Kumar eplained that due to the impact of the bullet, the officer leaned to the left on his chair and later slumped to the floor towards the left side.
Denying that Saahni was under stress due to official pressure, ADG (land and order) said, “Nothing of that sort has surfaced as yet but the angle was being probed. Investigators have taken Sahni’s mobile and laptop into custody for further investigation.”
Sahni had applied for leave for 10 days starting May 28 which was sanctioned. He had appeared in a lucknow court on Monday to get a statement recorded. Sahni is survived by his wife Shalini and daughter Shreya and used to stay at Flat number 23 of Reserve Police lines in lucknow. He and his wife used to run free painting classes to train poor children.
In recent times, Sahni successfully carried out several operations including busting the Khurasan module and eliminating one of its member Saifulla in Kakori, beside others. He was also busted a racket of ISI moles after which a cook-turned-spy Ramesh Kanyal was nabbed from Pithoragarh recently.
Dear among his office colleagues, Sahni also had a long list of friends. Soon after the news broke, several of his past and present colleagues reached the ATS headquarters.
As teh news spread, members of the PPS Officers Association were up in arms against a top official of ATS. They referred to Whatsapp messages on Sahni’s phone and maintained that he was under pressure and was unhappy these days, but fell short of sharing the details with his colleagues.