Upset cop threatens suicide, is detained

A Railway Police Force (RPF) head constable who had threatened to immolate himself to protest his transfer from Gujarat’s Surat railway station to Bhayander railway station in Thane last week was detained on Sunday morning, to prevent the act.

The head constable, Dayashankar Mishra came to the RPF headquarters located at Mumbai Central Sunday morning and announced his intention of committing suicide outside the cabin of senior divisional security commissioner, Anand Vijay Jha at around 9.30 am. Mr Mishra tried to barge into Mr Jha’s office but was stopped by another RPF officer outside the office. When Mr Mishra said he was unhappy after being posted in Bhayander and intends to immolate himself, RPF officials held him in custody to prevent him from harming himself. He was later taken to the Nagapada police station for counselling and was then released.

Although no report was registered against Mr Mishra, the RPF has told him to address his grouse through proper channels. “We have asked him to talk and apply against the post through the proper channel and if he does fit into the criteria we will do something about it,” said Mr Jha.

Mr Mishra has said that he didn’t want to take the shift because he has only a year to retire from the force and as a result was agitated. But sources within the Mumbai Central post said that though Mr Mishra was agitated, the threat he made did not look serious. “Although the protocol is such that we take all these threats seriously, the man looked like he wanted to make enough noise to be taken seriously, when taken to Nagpada police station too he did not look like he would carry out the threat and was sent back home unharmed,” said an officer present during the incident.

The RPF of Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) have been segregated and have their headquarters at Mumbai Central and CST respectively.