List of IAS officers who allegedly committed suicide in recent years; Why no training module on emotional quotient?

WHEN 35-year-old IAS officer DK Ravi allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Bengaluru in March 2015, an anonymous reader posted a suggestion in this BoI site: “It is high time the training academies introduced module on emotional quotient, management of emotions, handling pressure situations, maintaining balance between work and personal life, personal life ethics besides work ethics, etc etc”. The suggestion is valid even today as there has been an unease among young IAS officers four days after…

their colleague Mukesh Pandey, 29, allegedly committed suicide purportedly over marital discord. His body was recovered on Thursday night from a railway track in Ghaziabad at the outskirts of Delhi. The head was severed from the torso. This 2012 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer hails from Assam and was married three years ago into a prominent business family of Patna. He is survived by his wife and a two-month-old daughter.

The officer — an English graduate from Guwahati-based Cotton college — self-shot a five-minute-long mobile video before traveling to Delhi to commit suicide, according to reports. “I am a simple peace loving man. Since marriage, there have been ups and down in my life. We often argue on something or the other. We both have different personalities,” the officer is heard saying in the video. BoI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. 

But it’s not the first time an IAS officer allegedly committed suicide in recent time. In 2009, at least two IAS officers were found dead under mysterious circumstances. The then principal secretary of Uttar Pradesh government and 1978 batch UP cadre IAS Harminder Raj Singh allegedly committed suicide in November 2009. The 56-year-old officer was handling important projects including the then UP CM Mayawati's dream project of Ambedkar Park in Lucknow. Many of his colleagues were utterly surprised at the news because he was a jovial person and reportedly danced in a party a night before the fateful day. UP IAS association in a resolution termed Singh as an "ebullient" and "jovial" person. The question then arose: How could such a jovial person be "unwell and depressed” as was reported after his death? 

Also in the same year (2009), a 1983 batch Orissa cadre IAS —Jagada Nanda Panda — was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Bargarh district of Odisha. Panda had earlier worked in the ministry of overseas affairs in New Delhi — a ministry later merged with the ministry of external affairs. He was reportedly upset over a CBI raid at his residence. 

In September 2010, 33-year-old IAS who was under probation allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the compound of his official quarter at Moti Daman area. J Rajamurugan belonged to 2009 batch UT cadre IAS, and hailed from Tamil Nadu. At the time of death, he was on duties in Panchayat elections held at Daman. He was living at the official residence with his wife. 

The most talked-about IAS suicide was, however, of Karnataka batch IAS DK Ravi's in 2015. His body was found hanging from the ceiling at his apartment in Bengaluru. Many of his colleagues were not convinced that it was suicide as they found a number of discrepancies in the sequence of events leading to his death. Ravi had earlier came into news for taking on sand mafia and builders in the state.

Only in May this year, 2007 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer — Anurag Tewari — was found dead in Lucknow near the guest house he spent the previous night.

BoI could not gather information about the findings of each of those suicide investigations. Many a time, such cases are put on cold storage and see a natural death. 

But what transpires in most of those cases is that work pressure and lack of balance between work and personal life are believed to be main causes of may of those tragedies. 

There have been officers other than IAS too, who could not cope up with pressure and committed suicide. One of the bizarre incidents took place in January 2011 when a lady officer and a former director in cabinet secretariat attempted to undress before a High Court judge before she was forcibly taken away by women police constables. She had earlier made a suicide attempt in front of the Prime Minister’s Office claiming that her seniors levelled false allegations against her after she had lodged complaints against them for sexually harassing her.