Patna, July 19: Dodging the prying eyes of around 50 cops on duty at the city-end of Gandhi Setu, a middle-aged man committed suicide this morning jumping into the Ganga from the 40th pillar of the bridge.

Confirming the incident, Alamganj police station personnel said the body of the victim could not be traced till late in the evening. Nor the middle-aged man could be identified.

“A man jumped off the bridge apparently to commit suicide. The police are on the job to recover his body. The identity and the whereabouts of the man could not be ascertained yet,” an officer at Alamganj police station told The Telegraph.

The incident occurred on a stretch where traffic snarl is rampant and at least 50 cops are on duty at any given time of the day to ease congestions.

The city police had deployed 240 constables and three deputy superintendents of police near the bridge to control rash driving and traffic jams.

A team of constables, all new recruits, patrol the entire stretch of the bridge.

But their presence has failed to bring down the number of suicide bids along the bridge.

On June 10, two children aged eight and four jumped off from the bridge in a bid to commit suicide. Fishermen saved the duo from drowning in the Ganga.

In May, three suicide attempts from the bridge were reported.

On May 14, Ajit, the 15-year-old son of an autorickshaw driver Raju Gope and a resident of Belwarganj, jumped off the bridge. Ajit, too, was saved by some fishermen.

Senior police officers preferred to remain silent on the issue of frequent suicide bids from the bridge.

A few policemen even denied the fact that the level of alertness was missing in the area.

“The police cannot stop someone if he or she suddenly climbs up the railings and jumps off the bridge. The police, on the setu, are always on their toes because of the spiralling traffic, which turns from bad to worse as the day progresses. The police are always on the vigil,” an officer said.

The bridge is under the jurisdiction of two police stations. Pillar numbers 1 to 36 are under Vaishali police while pillars 37 to 46 are under the Alamganj police station in Patna.

“The suicide bids mostly take place after dark or in the early morning. It is difficult for the cops to check the entire bridge all the time,” a police officer at the Alamganj police station said.