A police officer in Chennai has ended his life by committing suicide at his residence. The development had saddened his family members and the law enforcement agency is probing his sudden death.

According to reports, 50-year-old Balaji, who was a 1993 batch officer, had committed suicide at his residence in the wee hours of Tuesday. Balaji was a special sub-inspector of police at the Mylapore traffic enforcement station. He reported to duty on Monday morning as usual and returned to his home at the police quarters around 11 pm.  

He locked himself in a room and didn't come out on Tuesday morning. As he didn't respond, his family members opened the room and shocked to find him hanging from the ceiling of the room. The reports say that he had committed suicide in the wee hours of Tuesday and after knowing the incident, the police had come to his residence and launched the probe into his death. 

The police say that Balaji was upset over a dispute with his family members that had led him to take an extreme step of ending his life by committing suicide. In the wake of the demise of the fellow police officer, the police officers had expressed condolences to the family members of the deceased officer.

The number of deaths of police officers by committing suicide has been increasing in recent years and the reason behind such deaths was majorly due to work stress and personal issues with the families. Last November, a police constable in Chennai had ended his life by consuming poison after an argument with his wife. The constable had promised his wife that he would come back home early on Diwali. 

However, he didn't come to the home following which the couple had developed an argument and after the fight, his wife had gone to her parents' house. Police Officer Ganesh (28) had gone to his wife Tamilarasi's house to bring her back home. 

However, she had refused to return and he came back home the next day and consumed poison. Ganesh was a resident of Ambattur and he was serving with Special Police's 13th battalion in Poonamallee. He was rushed to the hospital after consuming the poison but he was declared dead.