Phase 2 voting: jawan on poll duty dies by suicide in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district

A jawan of the Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force deployed on poll duty died allegedly by suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district on Friday, police said.

Gariaband falls in the Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency where polling is underway in the second phase of the general elections.

The incident took place around 9.30 am at a government school in Kudedadar village under Piparchhedi police station limits where security personnel on poll duty have been stationed, a police official here said.

Head Constable Jiyalal Pawar allegedly shot himself with his service rifle in a room at the school, he said.

He was in the reserve team and was not deployed for active poll work, the official said.

Pawar belonged to Batallion no. 34 of the MP Special Armed Force, he said.

Soon after being alerted, a police team reached the spot and shifted the body for the postmortem, he said.

No suicide note was found at the spot, he said, adding that a probe was underway.