Shooter Konica Layak, Who Was Recently Gifted Rs 2.7 Lakh Rifle By Sonu Sood, Ends Life

This is the fourth suicide incident in 4 months of an Indian shooter -- Khushseerat Kaur Sandhu, Hunardeep Singh Sohal & Namanveer Singh Brar too had died by suicide.

Shooter Konica Layak | Image: Twitter

New Delhi: Shooter Konica Layak, 26 years old, committed suicide in the Kolkata hostel, allegedly hanging herself from the ceiling fan. Originally from Jharkhand, Konica came into prominence when she was gifted a Rs 2.70 lakh German Rifle by Sonu Sood earlier in 2021 because she relied on a borrowed rifle and couldn't afford a gun and missed playing nationals despite twice qualifying.

Konica was training with former Olympian and Arjuna Award winner Joydeep Karmakar in Kolkata. She hails from Dhansar in Dhanbad of Jharkhand. 

To note, this is the fourth suicide incident in 4 months of an Indian shooter -- Khushseerat Kaur Sandhu, Hunardeep Singh Sohal & Namanveer Singh Brar too had died by suicide. All of them were state-level shooters.

The shooter has won four gold medals at the state level. She was in the headlines when she was not able to compete in a national tournament as she did not have a rifle. Konica Layak tagged Sonu Sood in a tweet in January. Tagging Sonu Sood, Konika wrote in her appeal, "I have won a silver and a gold medal in the 11th Jharkhand State Rifle Shooting Championship. However, the government has not helped me at all. Please help me with a rifle Please help.' Konika Layak had also tagged the ministry and government official with Sonu Sood.

में आपको राइफल दूंगा।
आप देश को मेडल दे देना।
आपकी rifle आप तक पहुंच जाएगी। @SoodFoundation https://t.co/4JFXdrQl2l

— sonu sood (@SonuSood) March 10, 2021

The Tribune reached out to Konica's coach who said that she was not being regular for her practice sessions for the past 10 days. 

“This is shocking news to all of us. She was doing okay in practice but of late she was missing her sessions a lot due to one reason or the other,” Joydeep told Tribune.

“She was to get married soon. I don't really know what happened or forced her to take this step. We are heartbroken,” he added.