Chennai: A CISF jawan shot dead three colleagues on Wednesday morning with his service gun and injured two at the Kalpakkam MAPS township.
Three months after Vijay Pratap Singh was promoted as head constable and transferred from the Narora atomic plant in UP to Kalpakkam, he went on the killing spree.
A native of UP, Singh collected his 9 mm carbine and 60 bullets before heading for his shift that was to start at 5 am at the CISF barrack in Kancheepuram, 65 km from here. He then went to the first floor room of head constable Mohan Singh, a native of Rajasthan, and opened fire. The 57-year-old was sleeping when he was shot at and suffered bullet injuries on his stomach.
Singh then walked downstairs. On the ground floor he opened fire on Madurai native A Subburaj, 54, and assistant sub inspector R Ganesan, 58, from Salem.
Both succumbed to their injuries on the spot. Head constable Pratap Singh, 57, of Uttarkhand was hit by three bullets and underwent surgery. Kovardana Prasad, 42, from J &K sustained minor injuries in the melee.
Preliminary investigations suggest the possibility of Singh suffering from a mental health related problem. “He was often suspicious of his colleagues’ intents and their friendly smile and would often quarrel with them.
He is said to have had a similar problem in his previous posting at the Narora atomic plant in UP. He also got into arguments over allotment of shifts," said a police official.
Senior CISF officials said that they are probing the real motive behind the killings by their jawan.
“Pratap Singh is out of danger,” S.B. Shiradkar, CISF inspector general, western sector, told this newspaper on Wednesday after visiting the injured at the hospital.
Prasad escaped bullet injuries but suffered wounds when he fell from the stairs as he was running away to avoid bullets. He was discharged from a private hospital in Kelambakkam after first aid. Investigating officials said that the killer seemed to have had an issue to settle with Mohan Singh. “Mohan had tried to disuade him from fighting with colleagues who were smiling at him,” the investigators said.
