Lt-Col Jha's death brings back memories of Lt Sushmita's case

Bhopal, Dec 4: As the body of Lieutenant-Colonel Pankaj Jha was being loaded onto a military truck at the local airport, it brought back memories of Lt Sushmita Chakraborty, an officer hailing from this city, who allegedly committed suicide on June 15.

Lt-Col Jha of 15 RR allegedly shot himself on Friday at the formation headquarters at Mahore in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district.

Headquarters Northern Command Udhampur was the scene of the demise of Lt Chakraborty, who was attached to the Army Services Corps 5071 Battalion. The Army has already ordered an inquiry into the December 1 incident.

Lt-Col Jha's elder brother Sanjay favours an independent investigation -- by a central agency such as the CBI -- into his sibling's demise.

While speaking to UNI at his Tulsi Nagar residence here, a distraught Sanjay points to the conflicting versions about the the type of weapon used and the delay in handing over the body.

''Even for a highly-technological Army, low-intensity conflict proves a taxing exercise as the fight is against an unknown and unidentified foe even as the officers and men are left with little time for rest and recuperation. There is also the pressure of being away from the family,'' Brigadier (Retd) S Dasgupta, who saw active service during the extremism years in Punjab and also in the Northeast, told UNI.

Mr Jha says that his sibling, who was stationed in Kashmir during Operation Vijay and was later decorated with the President's Medal for Distinguished Service, was normal and happy in previous postings but not in the last one where he joined in September, 2005. According to sociologist S N Chaudhry, who is part of Barkatullah University's Sociology Department, a round-the-clock formal environment and rigid set-up results in a tension-ridden Army.

''There is no psychological healing system after coping with an adverse situation. An unfriendly commanding officer might end up promoting frustration in the ranks. Unfortunately, one coping mechanism to escape a personal crisis has been to shoot colleagues or seniors. Lt-Col Jha seems to have used the other coping mechanism of turning a gun on himself,'' the expert told UNI.

Ms Deepika Kohli, who suspects foul play led to the April 30 death of her husband Captain Sumit Kohli -- an 18 RR officer posted in Kashmir -- told UNI over telephone from Punjab that a second post mortem of Lt-Col Jha's body was imperative.

''I have a two-month-old baby and the Rs 4,000-odd pension that I receive may be insufficient to support us in future. I would have been proud even if Sumit had died in an ambush while serving India,'' she says while breaking down over the line.

Congress Madhya Pradesh unit General Secretary Deepchand Yadav has urged the Centre to order an inquiry into the death of Lt-Col Jha.

''I have written to Defence Minister A K Antony for an investigation by a civilian agency,'' Mr Yadav told journalists at the Raja Bhoj Airport last evening.

UNI