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BARC scientist's suicide raises questions

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai

The suicide by Ambarish Bose, a scientific officer at Mumbai's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, on Thursday has raised questions on why and how did Bose kill himself.

The Department of Atomic Energy security officials claim that Bose was a psychiatric patient and jumped from the third floor of the Kamet building in the BARC complex.

But what rankles is their claim that Bose fell straight on his head and died immediately as a result of the injuries sustained.

"By 1100 hours, Bose went to sleep with his wife Sharmila in the bedroom. And by 1345 hours he committed suicide," said G L Horiwal, deputy chief security officer, Anushakti Nagar, DAE.

"His wife didn't even know that he had committed suicide and she was shocked to see his body. I reached here at 1400 hours when I was informed by the neighbours that it was the body of Bose," added Horiwal.

Asked how a man could commit suicide without any apparent reasons, Horiwal said, "Bose was a psychiatric patient and he met our staff psychiatrist, Dr Kaustubh Mazumdar on July 31 who had told Bose that he was irregular in his treatment and needed to be regular."

The Mumbai police have also registered a case of suicide.

Asked if there is any suspicion of foul play, Horiwal said, "There is no foul play and it is only a simple case of suicide."

Supporting his claim he showed a letter from staff psychiatrist Dr Kaustubh Mazumdar that said, "During the psychiatric examination of Bose on July 31, he was found in unstable psychiatric condition."

"Bose was irregular in his treatment but was advised to be regular in treatment in future and was prescribed Citaloprom and Carbamazpine tablets. He was also advised to follow up after two weeks or earlier if required," the letter said.

When rediff.com contacted Dr Mazumdar, he said, "Our rules do not permit me to comment about the health of my patients."

There was stoic silence in the complex and few people were willing to comment on the suicide. "We don't know anything about the incident as we were not here during the incident," was the common refrain of the neighbours.

However, a bystander, who wished to be anonymous said, "Other buildings, Nilgiri, Dhavalgiri, Annapurana and Almora near Kamet building have all witnessed cases of suicide by one or the other scientist in the last ten years."

"This was not the first time that this complex has witnessed a suicide case. Two years ago, in the same building, Dr Arjun Saxena, another scientist in the training division of BARC, committed suicide," said the bystander.

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