UP: Senior ATS cop commits suicide, motive unclear

An Additional Superintendent of Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) shot and killed himself inside his office on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Rajesh Sahini of the Provincial Police Service (PPS) posted at the ATS Headquarters in the posh Gomtinagar area, shot himself in the head, said an officer.

Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Law and Order, Anand Kumar, confirmed the incident and said the entire department was shocked by his action. "He was one of our finest...it’s a great loss."

Kumar, however, said the department was still not sure what exactly triggered such an extreme step. No suicide note has been recovered so far.

Sahini was instrumental in the arrest of a suspected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative of Pakistan's intelligence agency from Uttarakhand only last week.

He asked his driver to bring his service revolver. Minutes later, he shot himself, an officer at the headquarters said.

The police has seized the revolver used in the suicide and launched a probe.

Sahini was a 1992-batch PPS officer and had been behind many successful operations of the state police.

Born in 1969 in Patna, Sahini had "zero-error monitoring and professionalism", a senior officer said.