Hours after four Army personnel were killed, while they were asleep, by “two” unidentified “masked” men at Bathinda Military Station, another army man died of a bullet injury purportedly due to “accidental firing”.
Even as the Army authorities categorically stated that there was “no connection, whatsoever, with the incident that took place at 4:30 am at Bathinda Military Station” on Wednesday morning, the police is probing every possible angle.
The jawan died of a gunshot wound after his service weapon “went off accidentally”, said the police on Thursday, adding that there was no connection with the Bathinda military station killings a day ago.
The official statement issued by the Army stated that a soldier died of a gunshot wound at approximately 4:30 pm on April 2, 2023, at Bathinda Military Station. “The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region. He was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries,” it read.
The statement further mentioned that the soldier had returned from leave on April 11, 2023. The case purportedly seems to be of attempted suicide, it added. The deceased jawan has been identified as Laghu Raj Shankar.
In a shocking incident, that took place in the largest military camp, four jawans were killed by two masked men. As per the FIR, registered on the basis of the statement of Major Ashutosh Shukla — an eye witness in the firing incident, the jawans were asleep when two masked men, in white kurta-pyjamas, attacked them.
The four Army Jawans were found in a pool of blood in their rooms at Bathinda Military Station. Police confirmed that the weapon used in the crime was the same one that went missing two days ago. An INSAS rifle along with 28 rounds reported missing from the Military Station two days ago.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was also briefed by Army Chief General Manoj Pande on the incident.
The investigators have ruled out any terror angle in the Bathinda firing incident. Army sources said that it appeared to be an internal issue since a rifle with ammunition had gone missing. The Army is conducting a joint investigation in coordination with Punjab Police to establish the facts of the case.
Meanwhile, the Army authorities and police are yet to make any arrest in the murder of four jawans more than 30 hours after the incident.
At the same time, the police officials, probing the incident, have raised doubts over the eyewitness’ account as the autopsy report did not mention any injury mark of a sharp-edged weapon while the FIR stated that a gunner on duty, Demai Mohan, claimed to have spotted two masked men after the murder, carrying an INSAS rifle, while another had an axe.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Bathinda range, SPS Parmar said that Mohan’s statement raises doubts as the bodies did not bear any injury caused by an axe. “The post-mortem report says that there are multiple gunshot injuries but there is no visible mark of an axe or any other sharp-edged weapon. Now the question here is that when the axe was not used in the attack, why one of the attackers was carrying that,” he added.
The incident has also raised a question mark on the security of the military station.