Chhattisgarh constable shoots wife dead before committing suicide

The constable, Ramesh Sen, and his wife Shobha, were found dead with bullet injuries at their rented house in a colony in Gariaband town late Tuesday evening, Gariaband Additional Superintendent of Police Sukhnandan Singh Rathore said.

Ramesh, who was posted at the police line, was deployed on security duty at a local jail, he said.

On Tuesday, he did his duty in the morning shift, but did not report for duty in the evening shift, the ASP said.

"His colleagues tried to contact him, but repeated calls to him remained unanswered. Later, police personnel contacted Ramesh's relatives and reached his residence, which was locked from inside. They broke the lock open and went in, where they found the couple lying dead in their room," he said.

"Prima facie it appears that Ramesh first shot his wife dead with his service rifle and then committed suicide after shooting himself with the same weapon," Rathore added.

A native of Kopra village in Gariaband, the constable had married Shobha one-and-half years back and they were staying in the rented house in Gariaband.

No suicide note was recovered from the spot and the motive behind his extreme step was being ascertained, he said.

A case has been registered in this connection, the ASP said adding that further investigation is underway.

"Honestly speaking, there is no rule. We all can do whatever we want to do. We only need hefty money to grease the palms of BMC officials and police. After paying money, you can add number of floors on every building," another resident said.

"One can imagine what would happen if, may God forbid, these building catch fire. Even a fire brigade van cannot enter the bylanes," he added.

The buildings are located close to each other with a little space separating them. In many cases, illegal extensions of a building overlap adjacent structures.

When contacted, a senior BMC officer said that most challenging task in redeveloping the old buildings was to pursue the tenants to evict their houses.

These residents are reluctant to vacate their houses because property prices in south Mumbai are very high.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner of the area, Harshad Kale, said, "the biggest challenge is that tenants refuse to vacate the buildings fearing that they will lose the prime property. Moreover, they also feel insecure about staying in transit camps till their original buildings are redeveloped," Kale said.

Echoing the same, Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which is redeveloping 250 dilapidated buildings in south Mumbai, said citizens should take responsibility of their lives and support redevelopment wherever needed.

"We are extremely saddened by the unfortunate collapse of the building. This incident has once again put the focus on the issue of dilapidated buildings in the area and tenants refusing to move out," the SBUT said.