J&K: ITBP jawan shoots 3 colleagues before killing self at camp in J&K

Jammu: An Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawan Saturday fired at his three colleagues at a camp in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, before he himself received fatal bullet wounds, with a senior official saying the “exact sequence of the event is being investigated”.

Earlier officials had said Constable Bhupendra Singh had shot himself dead after firing at his colleagues around 3:30 pm at the Devika Ghat community centre in the district.

But, later an official said there was not much clarity on how Singh died.

He said Singh could have been killed either in an exchange of fire, or he might have shot himself, or possibly he was hit by a ricocheting bullet fired from his own weapon. ”The exact sequence of the event is being investigated,” the senior ITBP officer said.

The injured personnel have been admitted to a hospital, and are out of danger, the previous official had said.

He had also said that Singh had shot himself from his INSAS service rifle and he died on the spot.

The jawan belonged to the 8th battalion of the force and was presently deputed to the 'F' company of the 2nd ad-hoc battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) deployed in Jammu and Kashmir for security duties.

Preliminary inputs suggest some altercation took place between the jawans, but the exact cause that led to the incident is still being probed, the official said.

A court of inquiry has been ordered by the border guarding force, he said.

The ITBP is primarily tasked to guard the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China apart from rendering a variety of roles in the internal security domain of the country.

The incident comes a day after an Army jawan shot himself fatally after killing another colleague and injuring two others in Poonch district of the Union territory.