Patna, May 12: Senior police officers today indicated their colleague Sushil Kumar Yadav may have died in an accident and not committed suicide as earlier alleged. They based their findings on the ongoing probe.

Sushil (45), the station house officer (SHO) of Rajpur police station in Buxar district, around 120km west of Patna, had died on May 9. His family members had claimed that the officer had shot himself dead with his service pistol after Buxar superintendent of police Upendra Kumar Sharma allegedly misbehaved and ill-treated him.

With the Bihar Police Association threatening to go on a mass leave if the SP was not punished for his alleged act, the state police had started investigations into the matter. Deputy inspector-general (Shahabad range) Mohammed Rahman took matters in his own hands.

Rahman said investigations till now had not indicated suicide or any untoward incident. "The forensic team has collected evidence. The deceased officer's pistol is critical. Though the post-mortem report is yet to come, the investigation doesn't indicate a suicide or any foul play. It looks more of a freak accident as of now," he said.

"Many police officers keep their pistols cocked (loaded weapon can shoot when the trigger is pulled) while sleeping. We suspect that the bullet went off while he was checking the gun," he said.