Aspiring Jharkhand shooter Konica Layak hangs herself | Off the field News – Times of India

KOLKATA: Konica Layak, a 28-year-old shooter from Jharkhand who was training under Olympian and Arjuna Award winner Joydeep Karmakar hanged herself on Wednesday in the hostel room where she lived at Bally in Howrah on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Police sources said the aspiring national shooter had blamed her failure to live up to people’s expectations for the drastic step in a purported note. Konica was also due to get married in February.
Konica had failed to qualify for this year’s Nationals after she was disqualified for alleged tampering of target at the All India GV Mavlankar Championships in Ahmedabad held in October.
Konica had shot into the limelight after actor-philanthropist Sonu Sood had gifted her a German rifle worth over Rs 2 lakh earlier this year on learning about her struggle. She had tagged him in a tweet in January 2021 after winning a gold and a silver medal at the 11th Jharkhand State Rifle Shooting Championship, in which she had used a borrowed rifle as she did not have the means to buy one.
It was following the news reports Karmakar asked officials of his training academy to get in touch with her and subsequently offered her free admission and slashed her training fees to half at the academy in Kolkata. However, her attendance at the training sessions had been irregular for the past 10 days.
Hearing the news, Abhinav Bindra wrote a letter to NRAI president Raninder Singh, offering his services through the Abhinav Bindra Foundation to conduct some virtual sessions on mental health and well-being.

“She had been very regular in her training since she joined in July but she didn’t come to the academy for the past 10 days. While she gave excuses like her and her mother’s illness, we learnt from her father on Thursday morning that she had attended a friend’s marriage on December 12 and also the reception. We don’t know why she lied,” said Karmakar.
On being asked whether she was suffering from depression, Karmakar said he asked the coaches who specifically said they didn’t notice anything unusual in her over the months apart from her sudden disappearance for 10 days.
“After she was disqualified from the nationals, she claimed she was forced to admit that she had cheated and write an apology. She, however, insisted she was innocent. However, she had soon resumed training in full zeal,” said Karmakar.
“The reason for the disqualification was extremely strange,” he added. “In my 25-year career, I have not come across anyone being being barred for this. I just can’t believe that the sweet, smiling girl is no more.”