CHANDIGARH: He fought bravely in many battles, but couldn't go on in the conflict with his emotions. In yet another tragic instance of the empty nest syndrome, a highly decorated retired officer of the defence forces, Air Vice-Marshal Manjit Singh Dhillon, 69, committed suicide by shooting himself below the chin with his .12 bore rifle on Wednesday morning. He did this reportedly because his son was not willing to stay with him and his wife.
"He was asking Paramjit (his son) to settle in Chandigarh and stay with the family, but he never came," his shattered wife Harpreet Kaur Dhillon told the police. Investigators said that Paramjit worked with an MNC in Delhi.
In her statement to cops, Harpreet said she was asleep in their Sector-35 house when she heard a gunshot at about 7.30 am and quickly went to the room from where the noise came.
"I saw that Manjit was lying in a pool of blood," she recalled with horror. Forensic experts said the bullet had got lodged in Dhillon"s brain. They added that the empty shell of the cartridge had been recovered along with the rifle.
Harpreet said she immediately informed her son and daughter living in Delhi. Police were informed about the incident three hours after the incident.
Explaining the reason for delay, Harpreet said, "I wanted my children to come and carry out formalities of reporting the matter to the police." Cops said they discovered some notings on the mirror of Dhillon's bedroom and one of them read, "Raja gets a salary of Rs 2 lakh per month." "From his wife and neighbours" statements, we could gather that he was suffering from depression. His wife said they felt lonely as their children stayed away," said Sector-36 station house officer Anokh Singh.
Dhillon had received the Vir Chakra for an evacuation operation on the Indo-Pak border in 1971 when he was a young flight lieutenant. He underwent a helicopter flight training in England and had also received the Vayu Sena Medal. Sources said he had moved to Chandigarh in 1997 after his retirement. His colleagues referred to him as a tough, quiet and non-interfering person. "Last evening, he met me on a walk and told me about an Air Force seminar. He seemed very interested," said Air Marshal (retd) Randhir Singh, who lives near his house. He said it did not seem that Dhillon could have been contemplating suicide.
"This is not the way a Vir Chakra recipient's life should end," said Randhir Singh. Air Marshal (retd) RS Bedi said he had met Dhillon two weeks ago and never ever imagined a person like him could commit suicide.
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