Anis Patel, in-charge of the riot control police, allegedly shot himself in the head with his service pistol in the Pusad police station complex in Yavatmal, he said.
A police staffer spotted Patel lying in a pool of blood near a police hall in the complex and informed the authorities, the official said. Patel was rushed to a state-run hospital where he was declared dead before admission, he said.
The reason behind his extreme step was yet to be ascertained, he said, adding that a probe was on into the incident.
Patel was posted at the police headquarters in Yavatmal and used to be on reserve duty with the riot control police for 15 days in a month, the official said. The body will be handed over to his family after the postmortem, he added.