Young cop shoots himself dead with rifle

Bagalkot, Dec 1: A police constable, who was on duty attached to Superintendent of Police’s residence, had committed suicide by shooting himself from his riffle today.

The deceased Manjunath Harijan, 28, was the native of Mittalkot village in Kushtagi taluk of Koppal district and was posted to Gagalkot district SP’s office recently. 

After working in Davangere DAR police since 2012, an employee of Karnataka Armed Reserve Police, Harijan had been transferred to Bagalkot, where he was working as a security guard at the residence of SP for the past one year.

As usual, he reported for duty on Saturday and was working on 2 am to 6 am night-shift, guarding the residence of SP. According to sources, soon after his shift of duty ended Saturday morning, he shot himself dead with his official 303-rifle. A shocked police department is yet to find out reasons behind his death. His family has been informed about the incident.

According to the police, the constable had never disclosed anything to his colleagues about whether he was being harassed or tortured by the department or if he had any personal problems that forced him to take the extreme step. 

His body has been sent for autopsy and an investigation into the death will be taken up, sources added.