Sailor, 19, found dead on board INS Vikrant, Navy suspects suicide | India News

KOCHI: A 19-year-old naval sailor was found dead on board indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Thursday. He has been identified as Sushant Kumar, a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The Navy said that prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide as the body was found hanging inside the vessel. A statutory ‘Board of Inquiry’ has been ordered by the Navy and a case has been registered with Kerala’s Ernakulam South police. Kumar joined the Navy in 2021 and was deployed on Vikrant after its commissioning.

Sources said that the sailor was on watch duty aboard the vessel. As he did not report on time, others went looking for him and found him hanging from the ceiling reportedly near the medical area of the ship. “We suspect personal reasons as the reason for the suicide. A case of unnatural death has been registered. The body has been shifted for postmortem,” a police officer said.