Kushal Kumar Gupta
Calcutta, Sept. 17: A senior airport official committed suicide by jumping from the air traffic control (ATC) building in Calcutta this afternoon.
Kushal Kumar Gupta, 51, general manager, aerodrome (eastern region), was suffering from “severe depression” for the last three months, his family and colleagues said.
Gupta had wanted to resign recently because of his depression and he was on leave till September 21, airport sources said. He came to the office today without anyone noticing.
Although no one saw him jump, police sources said Gupta leapt from the eighth-floor terrace of the nine-storey building around 2.30pm. The terrace is adjacent to the ATC tower.
He is survived by wife Soma, who teaches in a girls’ school, and daughter Simon, who is a Class XI student.
“I had asked him to quit the job since I am working. I had also asked him not to go to the airport. He didn’t give any hint today that he would be going to the airport,” Soma said, breaking down.
A 1986-batch aerodrome official, Gupta had been looking after ATC operations of regional airports like Port Blair, Ranchi, Patna and Raipur.
Gupta, like other general managers, ranked No. 2 in the hierarchy, below the regional executive director and the airport director who are joint heads.
According to airport officials, Gupta was scheduled to appear for an interview in Delhi today for the executive director’s post.
“He was suffering from severe depression and didn’t want to attend office,” said Tarun Sengupta, Gupta’s brother-in-law.
Family members and colleagues said the symptoms of depression first appeared in July and he went on leave. “He joined in the last week of August but again went on leave for 15 days on September 6,” said Timir Bandyopadhyay, a colleague.
“His job was administrative and not operational, so passenger safety was not hampered by his long absence,” an airport official said.
ATC officials said Gupta was well-behaved, efficient and popular. He was undergoing treatment since July and appeared to have recovered, sources in the ATC said.
“A couple of days ago, I had spoken to him over phone and he seemed normal like before,” Bandyopadhyay said.
Gupta fell on a heap of pillars, iron rods and debris on the airfield side of the building where construction is on. CISF personnel on duty at the airport’s gate No. 4 were the first to spot him.
“He was bleeding very little and died apparently from severe internal haemorrhage. Most of his bones were broken,” said an airport doctor who examined him first.
Officials said they could not recall anyone committing suicide by jumping from an airport building in recent memory.
http://www.telegraphindia.com
KOLKATA: A senior Airports Authority of India official jumped off the eight-storey control tower building that houses the air traffic control on Saturday afternoon.
Though the general manager did not leave behind a suicide note, police ruled out foul play and said the act could have been triggered by severe bouts of depression that he had been suffering over the past three months. The 51-year-old is survived by his wife and daughter.
This is the third suicide at the airport in recent years. In 1993, an airport clerk had jumped off the same building. In 2009, an airline ground handling staff had hanged himself in a storehouse located off a remote parking bay at the airport.
Kushal Kumar Gupta, who was in charge of coordinating aerodrome activities at Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Port Blair, Gaya, Raipur and Cooch Behar, entered the tower building around 2pm and is suspected to have taken the elevator to the seventh floor where the aviation safety office, anti-hijacking room and regional training centre are located. He then took the stairs to the terrace that also leads to the air traffic control (ATC) and jumped off it around 2.20pm.
Though Gupta was rushed to a hospital a kilometre away, the 100-ft fall crushed his hip and backbone and ruptured his organs, leading to massive internal and external hemorrhage. According to hospital records, doctors declared him dead at 4.10pm.
Colleagues said Gupta was suffering from depression and was undergoing treatment. According to sources, a family discord had led to Gupta taking up separate quarters. While his wife and daughter lived in Beliaghata, he had moved to a flat at Jessore Road.
His office had also been relocated last month. His office was earlier located in the VHF building away from the other administrative offices housed in either a section of the international terminal or the control tower. On August 1, it had been shifted to the swanky new administrative building along with offices of the airport director, regional executive director and other senior officers.
At 112 ft, the eight-storey tower building with a double-height ground floor is currently the tallest building at the airport. That is perhaps the reason Gupta chose to jump from it though he had no business being their on Saturday. Though some officers engaged in operations drop by on weekends if needed, most of them, including Gupta, never attended office on weekends. Besides, Gupta was on medical leave from September 11 to 21. Furthermore, he should have been in Delhi on Saturday as he was scheduled to appear before the departmental committee on promotions.
Being an off day, there was hardly anyone at the tower building on Saturday, other than emergency staff like controllers and engineers. The CISF personnel at the gate did see the officer enter, but no one spotted him either in the elevator or at the staircase leading to the terrace at the ninth level. It was only when ground staff heard the thud that they rushed out.
"At first, I thought one of the workers engaged for construction on the roof of the building had slipped and taken the fatal fall," said a ground staff. Another feared that the person lying in a pool of blood was a controller who had taken the extreme step, unable to cope with the high-pressure job. It was only when paramedics checked the identity card that speculations ceased.
