Chhattisgarh: A cop, who was on poll duty, killed himself with his service weapon in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district, police informed on Friday. The reason as to why the police personnel took this extreme step is not known as of now.
Responsible authorities are analysing the situation and taking appropriate action.
The incident happened during the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024. In phase 2, polling is taking place in three seats in the state including Kanker, Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon.
Gariaband falls in the Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency and is one of the Assembly segments in this parliamentary seat.
Head Constable Jiyalal Pawar allegedly shot himself with his service rifle in a room at the school, he said. He was in the reserve team and was not deployed for active poll work, the official said.
Pawar belonged to Batallion no. 34 of the MP Special Armed Force, he said.
Soon after being alerted, a police team reached the spot and shifted the body for the postmortem, he said. No suicide note was found at the spot, he said, adding that a probe was underway.
Meanwhile, on the polling day, more than 72 per cent of voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm in three Lok Sabha constituencies, all having Naxalite presence, in Chhattisgarh.
Polling began in Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituencies at 7 am and was held in different time slots.
Of the eight assembly segments in the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency, polling ended at 3 pm in Antagarh, Bhanupratappur, Keshkal and Kanker assembly segments, while in Sihawa, Sanjari-Balod, Daundilohara and Gunderdehi it concluded at 6 pm, he said.
In the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, polling in the Manpur-Mohla assembly segment ended at 3 pm, and in the seven other assembly segments, it concluded at 6 pm.
The polling was held in the Mahasamund constituency till 6 pm, except in nine sensitive polling booths under the Bindranawagarh assembly segment, where it ended at 3 pm.
The tribal-dominated Kanker seat recorded a 73.50 per cent turnout, Mahasamund 71.13 per cent and Rajnandgaon 71.87 per cent till 5 pm, the official said.
The voting figure may go up as they are yet to receive the final data from several booths, he said.
With inputs from PTI
ALSO READ | Chhattisgarh: DRG personnel killed, another injured in Dantewada's accidental firing
