UP Housing Secy found shot dead,suicide suspected

Uttar Pradeshs Principal Secretary (Housing) Harminder Raj Singh spent most of Saturday evening attending a party at the residence of a colleague.

Uttar Pradeshs Principal Secretary (Housing) Harminder Raj Singh spent most of Saturday evening attending a party at the residence of a colleague. Hours later,he shot himself in the head with a personal revolver at his home in Vikramaditya Marg. The 56-year-old officer was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

No one knows what drove the 1978 batch IAS officer to take the extreme step. Police said Singh left no suicide note and his wife Ashima Singh,the only other person at home at that time,was in no position to talk. His colleagues wondered why the man they had seen laughing and dancing hours before would decide to end his life.

Singhs son Shivendra Pratap Singh,who rushed to the city from Delhi,refused to discuss the incident. Lucknow DIG Prem Prakash said Singh made his last phone call to his son in Delhi. It was a routine call, he added.

Singh was handling several key projects,including the urban rejuvenation plan,the integrated townships as well as the Kanshiram and Ambedkar memorials. Besides,all development authorities in the state and the housing board were under him.

Additional Director General of Police A K Jain said the police control room got information about the incident around 1.20 am.

Jain said the incident came to light when Singhs wife heard the gunshot from his room and rushed there. Before the incident,he was with his wife in his bedroom. Later,he went to another room, said Jain. It was not possible to ask his wife any question,she was in a state of shock, he said.

On Sunday afternoon,after a postmortem,Singhs body was taken to New Delhi in a state aircraft.

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The police have since sealed two rooms of his residence,including the one in which he ended his life. Besides his wife and son,Singh leaves behind a daughter,Ishani. His son-in-law Sagar Chandra is an advocate in the Delhi High Court.

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UP Housing Secy found shot dead,suicide suspected

Uttar Pradeshs Principal Secretary (Housing) Harminder Raj Singh spent most of Saturday evening attending a party at the residence of a colleague.

Uttar Pradeshs Principal Secretary (Housing) Harminder Raj Singh spent most of Saturday evening attending a party at the residence of a colleague.