Four jawans die in Punjab military station firing, Police say 'fratricidal' incident
Army said the incident took place at around 4:30 am and that it deployed quick reaction teams and cordoned off the area
New Delhi: Four Indian Army personnel were killed in a shooting incident at the Bathinda military station in Punjab early on Wednesday morning, in what is suspected to be a case of “fratricide”.
The local police told the media according to eyewitnesses two personnel in civilian clothes who were involved in the shooting incident and 19 empty shells of INSAS rifles were found at the spot.
Two days back an INSAS rifle along with 28 rounds was reported to be missing from the Bathinda military station.
The four slain personnel, in their mid 20s, were sleeping as the firing took place at around 4.30 am near the barracks behind a mess. A search operation has been launched to nab the shooter.
“The firing incident reported in the early hours of the morning around 0435 hours inside Bathinda Military Station. Station Quick Reaction Teams were activated. Area was cordoned off and sealed,” the Army’s South Western Ccommand said in a statement.
“It has been ascertained that in the unfortunate incident, four Army jawans of an artillery unit succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained during the incident. No other injuries to personnel or loss/damage to property have been reported,” said the statement. It said the area continues to be sealed off and joint investigations with the Punjab police are being coordinated to establish the facts of the case.
“All aspects including the possible case of involvement of an INSAS rifle along with 28 rounds reported missing two days back are being ascertained,” said the statement. There was no official word on the involvement of the person in the incident.
Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande is reported to have briefed defence minister Rajnath Singh on the matter.
Bathinda superintendent of police (detective) Ajay Gandhi, who headed the police investigation, said CCTV footage is being scanned and the Army is conducting a cordon-and-search operation and the entire area has been sanitised. He said that the slain jawans were identified as Sagar Banne (25), Kamalesh R (24), Yogesh Kumar J (24) and Santosh M Nagaral (25).
The police officer said there was still no information on who opened fire, and added the matter was under investigation. “Our investigation is going on jointly with military police,” Mr Gandhi said.
Punjab’s additional DGP S.P.S. Parmar told PTI: “It is not a terrorist attack, it is not an attack from outside. It is a fratricidal incident… We are in touch with the Army.” Bathinda’s senior superintendent of police Gulneet Singh Khurana told reporters: “It is not a terror incident. It is an internal issue, it appears to be fratricidal issue. Our investigation teams have reached inside (military station) with all forensic equipment and they are conducting investigations. In-depth investigations are going on.”
Speaking to reporters, Bathinda cantt police station SHO Gurdeep Singh said nobody has been detained in connection with the incident so far. Asked as to who fired the gunshots, he said they have no information in this regard. When asked if an FIR has been lodged, the SHO said: “We will lodge the FIR.” Further asked when the police received the complaint about the missing rifle, he said they got the information on Tuesday evening.