The family of the Maharashtra ATS DCP who shot himself at a restaurant on Saturday was not paid his salary for eight months.
Sanjay Banerjee, who was with state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the technical cell was among the other two senior police officials who were deprived of their salaries which amounted to more than ₹60,000 per month. The government did not sanction their posts officially.
"The two officers were not getting their salaries for around eight months, which is a very demotivating example for the force. The ATS is a very challenging posting, and if senior officers do not get their salaries it sends out a wrong signal," a senior ATS officer told Hindustan Times.
Police officials at Kapurbawdi police station in Thane, a Mumbai suburb, said that Banerjee had consumed five pegs of alcohol at home the day he shot himself. "At the restaurant, he took another three to four pegs," said a police officer who is part of the investigation of the case.
The officer also said that the deceased DCP did not face any financial problem despite not getting salaries for eight months. "True that the family said he hadn't got his salary in a long time, but there were no major financial problems which would have forced him to take such a drastic step. He had no problems in his married life and he was well-settled."
Banerjee, who joined ATS June last year, was also in the news when Julio F Rebeiro, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner, wrote to Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil on the DCP's appointment to sensitive posts.
In a 2010 report by Mumbai Mirror, a letter sent to the Home Minister said that juniors found it difficult to work under him and other senior police officials.
