Bhubaneswar, Nov. 17: The dead body of a 30-year-old police sub-inspector (SI) was found inside a room in the officers’ barrack of Reserve Police Force opposite Kalinga Stadium this morning.

The deceased, Abani Kumar Barik, a 2009-batch sub-inspector, worked at the grievance cell in the city police headquarters. Barik’s body was found with its throat slit. A knife was also found from the spot. Shaheed Nagar police have registered a case of unnatural death. Preliminary investigations suggested that it was a case of suicide.

The police said Barik, who was unmarried and hailed from Keonjhar, had lately been mentally disturbed, possibly due to family problems.

“His service record was not good and he had been punished several times in the past for dereliction of duty. We suspect that he might have committed suicide,” said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

The police said Barik had slept in the same room as three other police personnel at the barrack last night.

“Others came to know about the incident when he cried out in pain after apparently slitting his own throat,” said a police official.

Ashok Barik, the elder brother of the deceased, also said Abani was mentally disturbed and used to talk incoherently. “He would often complain of hallucinations of being hounded and would ask me why I was not killing him. He might have committed suicide,” said Ashok.

A police team along with forensic experts reached the barrack and conducted a preliminary examination. The body was sent for post mortem. Sources said Barik was on leave for months when he was posted in Cuttack two years ago. “He would often stop coming to the office without prior notice. His elder brother and other family members had met him yesterday,” said a police official.

In a similar incident on April 1, 2011, an assistant commissioner of police of the intelligence department had allegedly committed suicide. The officer, Pramod Kumar Satpathy, 55, was found hanging from the ceiling fan at his house in the Kalpana area.