RAWALPINDI: The superintendent of police (SP) who is believed to have committed suicide earlier this week had introduced an anger and stress management course for police trainees at the Police Training School six months ago.

SP Abrar Hussain Nekokara, who was the principal of the Police Training School, was disturbed and had been seeing a psychiatrist, a member of his staff said. He shot himself with his official firearm at his office on Monday.

Nekokara’s funeral prayers were offered at Police Lines Rawalpindi and attended by Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sohail Habib Tajik, City Police Officer Mohammad Ahsan Younas, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammad Faisal and other officials.

The body of the deceased was later driven to his hometown Chinot to be buried. Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Police Training and Recruitment Tariq Masood Yasin was among the police officials who attended the funeral prayers in Chinot.

Nekokara left behind a handwritten suicide note in which he said his decision should be respected, and apologised to his family. He signed it ‘Abrar’.

His colleagues and batch mates said they were taken aback by his suicide and said they did not know what prompted the act.

“He had never expressed and shared anything with his senior staff members. He was very kind to his subordinates,” one of his subordinates said, recalling that on a rainy day Nekokara did not call his driver to ferry his children to and from school but went himself.

In a post uploaded on Twitter, RPO Tajik stated: “Abrar Nekokara, a human & considerate police officer is no more physically with us but will remain in our hearts forever. He studied at GC & QAU, worked at Khairpur, Ghotki, Khushab and Pindi. He left a widow and two kids. Rest in peace.”

AIG Yasin said: “I have been in a state of shock and could not respond. Abrar was just not a subordinate, but I have lost a son, a friend, a very dear colleague and someone who loved me.”

The police have registered a report regarding the incident on a statement from Inspector Imtiaz Ahmed.

He said in his report that he received a call from CCTV operator Mohammad Hasnain, who told him that the SP was calling him. When he reached the SP’s office, he found Mr Hasnain panicking outside the office saying that Nekokara had committed suicide.

He said he informed Deputy Superintendent of Police Shoaib Aqueel, who called Rescue 1122 and Rawat police. He said the body of the deceased was in his office.

An external examination of the body found a wound on the right temple and another on the left side of the ear. The body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital for a postmortem.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2020