Umeshkumar Ramanlal Bhatia, a 35-years-old Head Constable deployed as Account Writer Head at Paldi police station usually reported on duty at about 11 am. On July 15, 2021, that is on Thursday, he was on duty at 9.30 am. He went straight to his room on the first floor of the newly built Paldi Police Station. Within minutes Police Station Officer (PSO) Neelaben heard a gunfire shot. She and other policemen present on the first floor ran towards his room. To their shock, they found Umeshkumar lying in a pool of blood on his chair and pistol lying on the ground. Umesh had shot himself in the temple.
Police Inspector JM Solanki rushed to the scene. “We immediately called up 108 emergency service. He was taken to VS Hospital where he was declared brought dead. We have for now registered a case of accidental death and are probing the reason behind the extreme step taken by Umeshkumar,” added Inspector Solanki.
Inspector Solanki said “Umeshkumar was an account writer head and had access to the arms room. He took out a pistol from the armoury and shot himself,” he added.
Umeshkumar, is survived by his wife Parulben and two kids, a 10-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. Umeshkumar’s father Ramanlal was also in the police force and retired as an Assistant Sub Inspector of Police. The family was in shock as they learnt about Umeshkumar’s death by suicide. They all rushed to V S Hospital. The grief-stricken family broke into tears and were inconsolable as they saw the blood-stained body of Umeshkumar lying in the post mortem room of the hospital. However, later his body was shifted to a civil hospital for postmortem by a panel of doctors with videography.
Umesh’s father Ramanlal raised a question in front of the media that the armoury of the police station is on the second floor and Umesh’s room is on the first floor of the police station, how is it possible that no one saw him go up on the second floor and take out a pistol from the armoury, come down and shoot himself.
“If he wanted to die by suicide, he could have shot himself in the armoury on the second floor. Why would he come down to his room and then shoot himself,” added Ramanlal. Police officials said they are going through the CCTV footage of the police station to figure out what had happened.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 7- Premsukh Delu told VoI that Umeshkumar was deployed at Paldi police station in 2015. Before that, he was deployed with Sarkhej police station. “He was a very hard-working man and never used to compromise with his work. However, he was a little introverted and hardly used to communicate with his colleagues,” added DCP Pemsukh Delu.
His colleagues said he followed rules and was a perfectionist in dispensing his duties. “Umeshkumar used to abide by the time. He also used to go out cycling every night after coming home. We are not able to understand the reason behind him taking this extreme step,” said one of his colleagues.
