Conflict with bosses may have triggered senior cop's suicide bid

In an incident that yet again illustrates the stress and strife of life as a cop in the state Additional Director General of Police Addl DG of Maharashtra police Ranjit Kumar Sahay reportedly attempted suicide on Saturday night by setting himself ablaze Sahay has been admitted to Bombay Hospital at 1130 pm with 55 per cent burns Sahay is said to have been locked in conflict with his superiors in recent times and had even complained to his colleagues about the behaviour meted out to him by them According to the police the incident occurred in the first floor apartment of AvantiAmber building in Malabar Hill Director General of Police DGP Sanjiv Dayal and Commissioner of Police CP Dr Satyapal Singh visited Bombay Hospital later but refused to comment on the incident ldquoWe have initiated a high level inquiryrdquo Dayal told the media Speaking to MiD DAY Dayal said ldquoI only came to know that Sahay has been admitted to Bombay Hospital The reason is not yet knownrdquo According to sources Sahayrsquos wife Ralu 45 has attributed the incident to an accident She is said to have explained that during a puja at home Sahay tripped over a can of kerosene or petrol while he was holding a diya which lead to this mishap She has also said that the can of fuel was kept there for drycleaning purposes Harassed by seniors An IPS officer who passed out of the 1986 batch Sahay had been posted in the housing department of the statersquos police force Sources from the state police department revealed that Sahayrsquos superiors had recently withdrawn his constable from his service Sahay was also forced to travel by trains to Nashik Pune and other spots even if the trips were made on duty ldquoI am aware that he was being harassed by his superiors unnecessarily He was in depressionrdquo said a batchmate of Sahay on condition of anonymity Sahay was in the news recently after his report was submitted to the Anti Corruption Bureau ACB against managing director of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation MSRTC Deepak Kapoor for alleged irregularities in the corporation during his tenure Sahay was posted as the chief vigilance officer at MSRTC and did not see eyetoeye with Kapoor He had also protested against having to report to Kapoor who he said was his junior as Kapoor was an IAS officer of the 1991 batch Condition critical Sahay has sustained serious burn injuries on his forearms and scalp as well as internal burn injuries A doctor from the hospital said that his condition is extremely critical and he has been kept in a quarantined room in the ICU so that his injuries donrsquot get infectedu00a0 A team comprising an intensivist a plastic surgeon and an ENT doctor are observing him round the clock Sahay has a son Soham 18 who is a Second Year law student in Pune while his daughter Nandini 18 is studying fashion designing Inputs from Anuradha Varanasi Our View Police distress a sign of stress Comment P20 Police deaths under pressure gtgt August 28 2006 Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP Vinod Bhatt 55 from ATS had committed suicide on the railway tracks at Matunga due to pressure from his superior gtgt July 8 2012 Prabhakar Patil 54 a subinspector attached to Turbhe police station had shot himself inside a local train at Belapur A suicide note found in his pocket stated that he was taking the extreme step owing to harassment by his senior inspector gtgt July 31 2013 Chandrakant Mahajan 42 assistant police inspector from Chunabhatti had shot himself with his service revolver inside the police station last month Mahajan too was frazzled because of his superiorrsquos conductu00a0