INDIA. Mumbai: In a shocking incident a woman lieutenant colonel of the Indian Army alleged committed suicide in Army residential quarters located near Command Hospital at Wanowarie, in Pune in Maharashtra on Wednesday morning.
Lt Colonel Rashmi Ashutosh Mishra (43), was found hanging with a dupatta around her neck. The incident came to light in the morning when the staff had gone to serve tea to her, an official said. She is survived by a 17-year-old son and her husband colonel Ashutosh Mishra. Her son resides at Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
The Wanowarie police have registered the incident as an accidental death. The police have not found any suicide note from the spot. In the preliminary investigation, the family dispute is being told as the reason for the suicide. The woman military officer was married to a Col Ashutosh Mishra, but the divorce case was going on between the two.
However, based on some evidence found from the spot, the police have begun an investigation. When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 5) Namrata Patil said, “We were informed about a suspected case of suicide at the said defence establishment and a probe has been launched.”
The woman Army officer, posted in Jaipur, was undergoing training at the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot (MINTSD) at Wanowarie in Pune. She had come for six months of military training of which she had completed three months training. Founded in 1950, the MINTSD, trains intelligence professionals of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary forces, civil intelligence agencies, and friendly foreign countries.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Indian Army authorities said, “An incident of likely suicide by an officer has occurred in the premises of Military Intelligence Training School and Depot, Pune. The officer was undergoing a course in the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot, Pune. A case with the civil police has been registered and the matter is under investigation. The Army is providing all assistance in the case of investigation.”
