UP DGP assigns probe into ATS officer's suicide to ADG-Lucknow

Taking note of the alleged suicide by an Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) officer, DGP O P Singh today assigned an enquiry into the circumstances of "the unfortunate death" to the additional director general of police of Lucknow Zone.

Rajesh Sahni, an additional superintendent of police (ASP) with the squad, had allegedly committed suicide yesterday in his office at the ATS headquarters here. He had used a service weapon to shoot himself dead.

"The DGP has assigned the enquiry into the entire circumstances of the unfortunate death of ASP (ATS) Rajesh Sahni to ADG, Lucknow Zone, Rajeev Krishna," an official spokesman said here.

The last rites of Sahni were performed by his daughter at the Bhaisakund crematorium here in the presence of senior officers, including Principal Secretary Home Arvind Kumar and the director general of police (DGP).

Demand for a probe into the alleged suicide was raised from several quarters, including on social media, following which the DGP ordered the enquiry.

The 1992-batch Provincial Police Services (PPS) officer was involved in a recent ATS operation that led to the arrest of a suspected ISI agent, who worked at the house of an Indian diplomat in Pakistan, from Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district.

Ramesh Singh Kanyal, who was arrested from Pithoragarh's Didihat area, worked as a cook at the diplomat's residence in Islamabad from 2015-2017 and has confessed to his role in anti-national activities.

Kanyal is accused of passing on confidential information to Pakistan's International Services Intelligence (ISI) for money while he was in Islamabad.

Sahni had also led the encounter of the self-radicalised operational head of an ISIS module in Haji Colony of Kakori, Lucknow, on March 7 last year.

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