Deepali Chavan, 32, a forest range officer at Melgat Tiger Reserve in Amravati district, Maharashtra, shot herself with a service revolver in the head on Thursday evening. Chavan committed suicide at her official residence in Harisal, sources said, adding that a suicide note was found at the spot.
Chavan was posted in Harisal under Gogamal forest division of Melghat Tiger Reserve, he said.
A forest official was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of Chavan, police said. The police nabbed Vinod Shivkumar, deputy conservator of forest, Googamal Wildlife Division of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), from Nagpur Railway station in the morning hours, said Amravati superintendent of police (rural) Dr Hari Balaji N.
According to the police, Shivkumar was arrested based on a complaint lodged by the family of range forest officer Deepali Chavan (34). The accused will be produced before the court for his police custody remand, the official said.
Relatives and well-wishers of the victim staged demonstrations before the post-mortem room of the district general hospital in Amravati and reportedly refused to take the body until MTR project director N Shrinivas Reddy was also arrested in the case.
The victim in her suicide note implicated the accused and also blaming the MTR project director for not taking heed of her repeated complaints against the accused, it was stated. According to an FIR, the victim was allegedly tortured, harassed, insulted and abused by the accused, which drove her to suicide.