'The DIG took the 9mm pistol and left the room, asking me how to use the pistol,' Ravichandran said in his statement to police.
"From the day the DIG took charge in Coimbatore, he suffered from lack of sleep and usually he takes sleeping pills", Ravichandran mentioned in his complaint.
Senior IPS officer and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police in Coimbatore C Vijayakumar drank a glass of milk 10 minutes before he shot himself on Friday, 7 July, his gunman told investigators.
The previous evening, the officer had gone on an outing with his family, returning around 9.30 pm, the First Information Report (FIR) quoted the gunman, constable Y Ravichandran, as saying.
The officer spent the night in the room allotted to him.
“Usually, the DIG would come downstairs to the DSR (Daily Situation Report) room by 7 am to check the reports from police stations under his jurisdiction,” the constable reportedly said.
The DSR is an internal report maintained by police stations on their day-to-day affairs.
However, on Friday, he came 30 minutes early and asked for the report.
“Soon after coming downstairs, the DIG asked constable Ravi Varma to bring him milk. After drinking the milk, he visited my room by 6.40 am and asked for the DSR,” Ravichandran narrated the moments before the officer’s death.
“I gave him the DSR. He went to the place where I used to keep my pistol. He took the 9 mm pistol and left the room, asking me how to use it,” the FIR said, quoting the constable.
Ravichandran was changing his T-shirt when a gunshot rang through the Camp Office. “I ran out and saw the DIG lying on the floor with a head injury. The pistol was lying next to him,” he said. The constable told investigators that the incident happened at 6.50 am.
The pistol was issued to the constable from the Coimbatore Armed Reserve to protect the DIG.
Meanwhile, driver Anbalagan, too, reached the scene. Ravichandran and the driver ran upstairs and met the DIG’s wife midway. “We told her what had happened,” he explained.
“We immediately took the DIG in a Bolero to the Coimbatore Government Hospital. Sentry constable Srinath was with us. I informed the higher officers of the incident on the way to the hospital,” he said.
They reached the hospital around 7 am. After examining the DIG, the doctors declared him dead.
The FIR was filed based on Ravichandran’s complaint. The constable expressed ignorance over the DIG’s motive for taking the extreme step.
Ravichandran, attached to the Erode Armed Reserve Police, has been serving as the gunman for Coimbatore Range DIGs since 2016.
The constable also stated that the DIG had insomnia. “Ever since he took charge in Coimbatore, he had been suffering from a lack of sleep and took sleeping pills,” Ravichandran mentioned in his complaint.
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