Minutes after his wife was declared dead in a Guwahati hospital after a battle against cancer, senior IPS officer Shiladitya Chetia killed himself with his service weapon Tuesday afternoon.
Shiladitya Chetia (44), a DIG-rank IPS officer from the 2009 batch, had been serving as Secretary, Home and Political with the Assam government. According to sources, he had been on leave for the past four months to tend to his ailing wife, Agomoni Barbaruah.
She had been receiving medical treatment at Nemcare Hospital, a private hospital in Guwahati city.
“This afternoon, she succumbed to her illness. Almost immediately after the attending physician declared her dead, he shot himself in the Intensive Care Unit where she was being treated,” said a police officer.
According to the MD of the hospital Dr Hitesh Baruah, the couple had been staying at the hospital for close to two months.
“She had been battling for around two years and had received treatment elsewhere as well. For the last two months, she had been receiving conservative treatment here and he had taken up a separate room in the hospital,” he said.
“In the last three days, we had informed him that her condition was deteriorating. Today at 4.30 pm, the attending doctor informed him of her passing. The doctor and a nurse were in the room with him and he requested them to step out, saying that he wanted to pray. Around 10 minutes later, a loud sound was heard from the room,” he said.
Assam DGP G P Singh expressed grief over the tragic incident.
“In an unfortunate turn of events, Sri Shiladitya Chetia IPS 2009 RR, Secretary Home & Political Government of Assam, took his own life this evening, a few minutes after the attending physician declared the death of his wife who was battling cancer for a long time. Entire Assam Police family is in deep grief,” he stated.
Chetia had made a steady rise in his career as an IPS officer from the Assam cadre. He had previously served as SP in the Golaghat, Tinsukia and Sonitpur districts, and before his current posting, he had served as Commandant of the 4th Assam Police Battalion.
According to sources, his father Pramod Chetia had also been a DIG rank police officer and passed away a few years ago.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 18-06-2024 at 20:36 IST
