3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jan 30, 2026 12:09 PM IST
Two days after a 27-year-old SWAT commando of the Delhi Police died after she was allegedly hit on the head by her husband with a dumbbell, police have added sections relating to dowry harassment and violence to the case against the accused, officials said.
Police officers said the commando, Kajal, was four months pregnant with her second child when she was attacked by her husband, Ankur, on January 24, allegedly during an argument.
“The arguments between the couple were allegedly over dowry demands by Ankur’s family,” a police officer said.
In 2022, Kajal was among the few officers who volunteered to be part of SWAT, an anti-terror unit of specialised, highly trained commandos under the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. She was 23 at the time.
After three months of rigorous training, Kajal was posted at the SWAT office in Greater Kailash.
“That’s why this [her death allegedly at the hands of her husband] is even more shocking. Not every officer gets selected for SWAT. It is a gruelling process. And she never mentioned any domestic issues to her team members or seniors,” a member of Kajal’s SWAT team told The Indian Express.
The SWAT unit was constituted in 2009 after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and was made part of the Special Cell. In 2018, an all-woman SWAT team was raised — one of the first such units in the country — which Kajal would later join.
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The 200-plus SWAT personnel undergo training similar to that of the National Security Guard (NSG), India’s elite counter-terror force under the Union Home Ministry, officers said.
Commandos like Kajal are trained to use some of the most lethal weapons in the police arsenal — AK-47 assault rifles, MP5 submachine guns, and INSAS rifles — which the regular police do not typically use. Training in Krav Maga, the self-defence martial arts technique used by the Israel Defence Forces, is mandatory for SWAT personnel.
“What we are hearing now about her family life is completely different from what we knew of her. Her ambition, her drive, what we thought she would become — all stand in stark contrast to what has emerged,” a senior officer of the Special Cell said.
