Maharashtra's Latur civic chief Babasaheb Manohare admitted to hospital with critical bullet injury to head in suspected suicide bid

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Latur’s municipal commissioner Babasaheb Manohare (48) was admitted to a private hospital with critical bullet injury to his head in a suspected attempt to death by suicide at his official residence in the MIDC area around 11.15pm on Saturday. The cause of the incident is being ascertained, police said.“Manohare’s condition is critical. The bullet pierced through his skull from the right side, damaging a portion of his brain,” Dr Hanumant Kinikar, director of Sahyadri Hospital at Latur, which is about 260 km from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, told reporters. “A few pieces of the broken skull were left in his brain needing an urgent surgery," Kinikar said. Latur’s superintendent of police (SP) Somay Munde told TOI, “Preliminary investigation indicates that the municipal commissioner used his licensed pistol to fire a bullet in his head. Doctors have informed us that the bullet entered from the right side and exited from the top of his skull.”Manohare’s wife and two children, aged 15 and 12 years, were present in the house at the time of the incident.“Manohare had dinner and chatted with his family as usual before leaving for his bedroom. Moments later, his family members heard a gunshot. They rushed to his room, along with a guard present at home, and found that he was lying injured. His firearm was lying nearby,” Munde said.The family then rushed Manohare to the hospital where the doctors, after carrying out initial medical procedures, put him on a ventilator, the SP added.“Our team from MIDC police, along with forensic officials, reached the spot on being alerted about the incident. We have recovered the firearm and a cap of the fired round from the spot. Circumstances indicate that only one round was fired,” Munde said.Manohare served as municipal chief in Jalna and Dharashiv in the past. He served as Aurangabad smart city CEO for one day in 2021, following which he went on to serve as additional municipal commissioner in Nanded Waghala Municipal corporation, before finally getting appointed as Latur municipal commissioner in the last quarter of 2022.(With inputs from Mohammed Akhef)