Senior UP ATS Officer Commits Suicide

Lucknow, May 29

A senior police official of the Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad today committed suicide in his office at the ATS headquarters here, police said.

A 1992-batch Provincial Police Services (PPS) officer, Rajesh Sahni was involved in the recent operation in which a suspected Pakistani spy was arrested in Uttrakhand, and was credited with solving several high-profile cases.

He used an official weapon to shoot himself in the temple at 12.45 pm, ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said.

Sahni (48) held the rank of additional superintendent of police.

He left no suicide note, police said.

“It gives us immense grief to communicate the unfortunate demise of Rajesh Sahni, Additional SP ATS. He was one of the most promising officers of UP police. The reasons for his suicide are still being ascertained. Our prayers are with the family,” Director General of Police O P Singh.

Sahni was involved in the recent ATS operation which led to the arrest of a suspected ISI agent who worked at the home of an Indian diplomat in Pakistan.

Ramesh Singh Kanyal, who was arrested at his home in Didihat area in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district, worked as a cook for the diplomat in Islamabad from 2015-2017 and has confessed to his role in anti-national activities, police said.

Sahni had also led an encounter with the self-radicalised operations head of an ISIS module in Lucknow on March 7, 2017.

He was with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for about two years before joining the UP ATS in July 2014.

During his posting as circle officer in the state capital in 2006, Sahni was involved in a dramatic arrest of some people travelling in an SUV.

The driver tried to crush him, and in a bid attempt to save himself the officer jumped on to the bonnet of the car and caught hold of a rod.

An hour later, the SUV crashed into the SSP’s home in Hazratganj, where some journalists and members of public caught five persons in the vehicle and handed them over to the police.