85-year-old man shoots self to death

Chandigarh, January 4 

An 85-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his .12-bore licensed gun at his house in Sector 36 here this afternoon. 

The police said Sardara Singh, the deceased, had retired as a chief engineer from a department in Punjab. He had shot himself in the neck.

Inspector Naseeb Singh, SHO, Sector 36 police station, said the victim’s wife Gurbax Kaur had gone to give clothes to a washerman near their house when the octogenarian shot himself. 

The victim’s wife returned home and found the door of his room bolted from inside. The door was broken and the victim rushed to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH) in Sector 16 where doctors declared him brought dead. The police said the victim was upset over his ill health, which was suspected as the reason behind the alleged suicide.

The victim had undergone an eye surgery as well. The police have not found any suicide note from the spot. 

Police sources said Sardara Singh had also tried to commit suicide sometime ago by consuming some poisonous substance.  However, the matter was not reported to the police. The deceased is survived by his wife and four children. Three of his children are settled in the US while a daughter, who is married to an Army officer, stays in Delhi. They have been informed about the incident. The body has been kept at the GMSH mortuary. Inquest proceedings into the incident have been initiated. — TNS