The SPU Head Constable Mergurwar, suffering from Mucormycosis, shot himself to death with the pistol
Nagpur: Nagpur: The Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar has ordered an inquiry as to how the Head Constable attached to Special Protection Unit (SPU) Pramod Mergurwar, who shot himself to death at his house on Saturday, managed to procure a service revolver despite being on sick leave.
A resident of Niwara Society, Mankapur, Pramod was suffering from Mucormycosis after recovering from Covid-19 infection. He was under depression after complete loss of vision in right eye and partially in his left eye due to black fungus. The family was infected with the novel coronavirus in May and also recovered from the infection. After getting discharged from the hospital, Pramod was infected with black fungus. He was admitted to Alexis Hospital for treatment. The doctors had performed five surgeries including one in Hyderabad hospital. On June 28, doctors at Alexis Hospital had reportedly told Pramod that he may require yet another surgery as some more spots had developed in his left eye.
On the same day, Pramod had gone to armoury at Police Headquarters with a friend to procure his service revolver saying he was taking the weapon for cleaning purposes. It may be mentioned that SPU jawans used to clean their weapon once in a month. However, another report said that Pramod told his friend to take him to the armoury saying a fine has to be deposited by him urgently.
According to sources, the Head Constable had submitted a letter from SPU to release him the weapon. What is surprising is how Mergurwar was issued the letter when he had been sick and undergoing treatment to save his eyesight. In such a situation, it is not clear how the firearm was handed over to him.
Police are probing under which circumstances Pramod was issued the service revolver. They have called for the records from SPU to see how the weapon was released and also checking the relevant entries.
