BSF jawan found dead in Howrah

Kolkata, Apr 22: A BSF jawan, deployed for election duty in Uluberia assembly constituency in Howrah district, was found shot dead near a polling booth today.

District Superintendent of Police A K Roy told UNI that Ashok Kumar of 17th BSF battalion and a resident of Pathankot in Punjab was posted as a security guard outside a booth in the Amin Ali High School under Uluberia South assembly constituency since this morning.

At around 11-00 hours he went to his nearby camp, Mr Roy said adding soon there was a sound of gun shot. As people rushed there they found Kumar lying in a pool of blood. His assault rifle lay nearby.

The jawan was rushed to the Uluberia general hospital where he succumbed at around 1230 hrs.

Polling, however, continued in the school.

Later the police lodged a case of suicide in the local police station.

Incidentally, this was the first such case of alleged suicide by a security force jawan deployed for election duty in West Bengal, the cause of which was yet to be investigated, Mr Roy said.

UNI