E-Paper
Miles apart, couple – IAF and Army officers – die by suicide on same day
Both husband and wife committed suicide on the same day. Police seek family's help to probe the case.
A couple serving in the Indian armed forces - husband an Indian Air Force (IAF) flight lieutenant and wife an Army captain- allegedly died by suicide on Tuesday, with the latter leaving a suicide note requesting joint cremation with her husband.
The police was taken aback by the fact that the couple died on the same day – while the husband was in Agra and his wife was on her visit to Delhi, reported The Times of India.
The couple have been identified as Deen Dayal Deep (32), posted at Kheria Air Force Station in Agra, and his wife, captain Renu Tanwar, posted at the military hospital in the same city.
Also read | SC norms to curb misuse of abetment of suicide law
Captain Tanwar was found dead at the officers' mess in Delhi Cantonment, while Deep's colleagues found his body hanging inside his residential quarters at the Air Force station in Agra.
The police have recovered a suicide note, allegedly written by Tanwar, requesting joint cremation with her husband. However, no such suicide note has been recovered from her husband's residential quarters in Agra.
Agra City deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Suraj Kumar Rai told TOI that they were informed about Deep's suicide by the officials at the Air Force station. Officials broke into his room to find him dead as he did not wake up late into Tuesday.
Officials informed the police that Deep, a native of Bihar's Nalanda district, cracked jokes and engaged in usual conversations with his colleagues during dinner on Tuesday. Deep reportedly returned to his residential quarters without showing any signs of distress or worry, officials added.
Agra ACP Mayank Tiwari said postmortem revealed asphyxiation to be the cause of death. His family was on their way to Agra and may provide some insight to the police to probe the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, the official added.
Also read | Weight loss drugs may help obese teens have less suicidal thoughts, study finds
In Delhi, police found that Captain Tanwar was a native of Rajasthan and had arrived in Delhi with her brother Sumit and mother Kaushalya on October 14 for the latter's medical treatment.
Havildar Dinesh Kumar, posted at the Garuda Sharat Officers' Mess at the Cantonment, informed the police about her suicide. “Her mother and brother were at AIIMS when she died by suicide. We came to know about her husband later. They had a love marriage,” TOI quoted the officer as saying.
Note: Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).
