Musings: Gemini Ganesan's suicide bid - cause remains a mystery

ACTOR Govinda suffers bullet injury (Kochi Oct 02, 2024): Even as reading this news, I guess that we media persons tend to be a bit cynical because of their exposure to many surreal situations on the job.  

About four decades ago, I reported a similar case about actor Gemini Ganesan who suffered a bullet injury on the neck. He said his revolver accidentally went off and caused the injury.

I did not believe it because revolvers are to be manually cocked before firing, and need a 12-pound trigger pressure pull to prevent unintentional firing. I am happy that Govinda is hale and hearty.

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Actor Gemini Ganesan tried to commit suicide in 1983 by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver. This was kept under wraps for three days, thanks to a well-equipped nursing home near his house run by the family members. When I rushed to his house, along with a few media men, on the night of September 28, 1983, he was relaxing on a sofa with a bandage around his neck. He haltingly told us that while on an evening stroll, he fell into a construction site ditch, brushing his neck against some protruding iron rods. 

One of my articles in the Indian Express on this case at that time is given below:

By Thomas Kannamala

CRIMINAL case number 1669/83 against film star Gemini Ganesan under section 309 of the IPC (attempt to commit suicide) at the Nungambakkam police station is still open. He is reported to have attempted to commit suicide on the night of Sept. 25, 1983, by shooting himself with a revolver. The crime was kept secret by the family for three days, thanks to the well-equipped nursing home nearby run by his daughter and son-in-law.

Once the news reached the media on Sept 28, it became an instant hit-and-running story with various dimensions added, including details of the personal life of Kathal Mannan (King of Romance) over the years.

As the `fell in the ditch and sustained injury’ story did not jell with the police, it had registered a case and began an investigation based on circumstantial evidence. They seized the revolver and 50 cartridges from his residence. The revolver carried three live cartridges and three spent bullet shells. A detailed statement was also obtained from the Office Manager of Gemini Ganesan on the happenings on that fateful night.

As the police entered the scene and began a forensic probe, the stories of the nursing home staff and the family members crumpled like a pack of cards. When confronted with the evidence, Gemini Ganesan was forced to come out with a statement in his hand that he had sustained the injury from the bullet that got fired accidentally while he was handling the gun.

But this statement was soon countered with the forensic report that no revolver could go off accidentally. The revolvers need to be manually cocked before firing and have long and heavy trigger pressure pulls which prevent unintentional firing. The firearm expert reported that a minimum of nine to 12-pound pressure on the trigger was necessary to fire a revolver. If the trigger spring is weak, it requires not less than seven-pound pressure.

These disclosures have led to a second round of speculative stories, reinforcing the first round, on the possible reasons that had led to the suicide attempt.

According to Gemini Ganesan’s statement, on September 25 night, he was fully drunk and woke up early morning. He began packing up his luggage to take his son to a Bangalore engineering college for admission. As usual, he picked up his revolver to be kept in the bag, but it went off suddenly. The bullet hit the roof. Before he knew what was happening, the second bullet went out through the open window. Shaken and surprised, he turned the barrel to himself to examine it.  Simultaneously, he sneezed, and the third bullet went in through the mouth and got embedded in the throat.

As the bullet did not come out, there was no outside injury, and the deep laceration behind his left ear was sustained when he fell backward in the bullet impact.

The most incredible part of the story is that a team of doctors in a modern nursing home could not detect a bullet wound till the government doctors, engaged by the police, did it. This led to the rumours that the family members were wilfully hiding something from the police and public gaze.

One story said Gemini Ganesan was trying to shoot someone, and on both occasions, he missed. Then the `target’ overpowered him, turned the gun on Gemini and pulled the trigger.

Another story said Gemini was carrying on with a teenage girl, and when his family members objected to it, he tried to frighten them with the gun, and when it did not work, tried to commit suicide. Yet another news story was that he had been watching his 1968 movie `Chakram’ on the TV, starring him as a virulent youth. The nostalgia, accompanied by heavy doses of whisky, had led to the shooting. The most widely accepted story was that the family members had objected to taking his son by actress Savitri (who died in 1981) to Bangalore and spending a lot of money on his education. This anger and frustration had led to the shooting.

As the self-shooting theory did not convince the police, they had instructed the family that the bullet embedded in Gemini’s throat to be taken out only in the presence of a government pathologist, and a police officer. This was to check if the embedded bullet was indeed fired from the same revolver.

The bullet was never recovered. Gemini was destined to live like another late movie legend, and TN chief minister M G Ramachandran (MGR), who survived a point-blank revolver shot. 

According to M Balachandran IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police, this is a case where the victim’s statement is relied upon, as no third party is involved on record. Police do have the option to proceed against him under IPC 309 (attempt to commit suicide). 

The punishment is one year of simple imprisonment and/or a fine. But as a convention, no punishment is meted out in similar cases and victims are let off with an admonition. The presumption is that the tendency to commit suicide is the manifestation of a deceased condition of mind. It deserves treatment rather than punishment.

IPC Section 309 is an enabling law that allows police to probe if such cases are genuine attempts, or some deeper sinister motives behind it.