A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper committed suicide by shooting himself with his AK-47 rifle in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on Saturday, police said.
The incident took place in the early hours at a forest in Pankhanjore police station area, the police said.
The deceased, identified as Head Constable Suresh Kumar, was returning with his colleagues after an anti-Naxalite operation when the incident took place, a senior police official said.
A team of BSF's 157th Battalion had launched the operation on Friday from its camp in Sangam village, he said.
On the way back, Kumar shot himself with his AK-47 rifle between Ghoda and Dotameta villages, around 200 meters ahead of the camp, and died on the spot, the officer said.
What prompted him to kill himself is being ascertained, he added.
On Friday, an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of the same battalion had tested positive for Covid-19 in Bhilai town in Durg district. The ASI was kept in a quarantine centre in Bhilai after he returned from his hometown in Uttar Pradesh.