A Home Guard personnel, Alekh Jena, collapsed and died of a heart attack while on duty at the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore, Odisha, on Sunday night. Jena, a Home Guard from the Nandipada police station area of Keonjhar district, had been serving at the high-security DRDO facility for several years.
Colleagues immediately rushed him to Balasore District Headquarters Hospital, but doctors declared him dead on arrival, confirming a heart attack as the cause.
Jena had previously served at a police station in Keonjhar before his posting at DRDO ITR. Coworkers noted that he had been under stress due to pending salary dues reportedly overdue for over two years, though this has not been officially confirmed.
The sudden death has left colleagues and staff at the Integrated Test Range mourning, and no official statement has been released by the authorities yet.
