Lt Sushmita's family favours independent probe

Bhopal, Jun 17 (UNI) As jawans of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers(EME) lifted the nondescript wooden coffin onto the back of a military truck in the sultry evening, a family mourned the demise of a dream of seeing their beloved 25-year-old daughter earn glory as an officer of the Indian Army.

At about 2030 hrs yesterday, the remains of Lt Sushmita Chakraborty - who was attached to the Army Supply Corps 5071 Battalion - were conveyed by an Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Bhopal with her shocked mother Sadhana accompanying the body.

Lt Sushmita, commissioned in October 2005 and a gold medalist from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, was stationed at Headquarters Northern Command Udhampur - her first posting - where she allegedly shot herself with a sentry's rifle on June 15.

''I favour an inquiry by an independent agency into the episode.

She desired to go ahead in life. Why would such a lady kill herself?'' Lt Sushmita's Jabalpur-based elder paternal uncle S K Chakraborty, who was at the local airport, told UNI.

In the double-storeyed Chakraborty residence at 162/2A Saket Nagar, a cardiac patient fought the grim battle of coming to terms with the death of his only daughter.

Mr Priya Brata Chakraborty is employed as a master technician at BHEL and has about half-a-dozen years of service left. After he interacted with media for a while, the doors and windows of the Chakraborty abode were shut.

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