Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 25: Three Army personnel including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) were killed when a Sepoy shot dead his two senior colleagues before turning the weapon on himself at forward Madaan Post in Digwar sector along the Line of Control (LoC), about five kilometers from Poonch district this afternoon.
All three Army jawans killed in the shootout belonged to Jammu and were posted in 17 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLi).
The Army jawans killed in the firing have been identified as Subedar JCO Chamel Singh (No. JC 593689N) son of Amar Singh, a resident of village Madwal, Mawa in Hiranagar tehsil of Kathua district, Havaldar Ranjodh Singh (No. 904838M) son of Girdhari Singh R/o village Buttyal in Paryal area of Jammu and Naik Darshan Lal (No. 9103890Y) son of Satpal R/o village Parladhpur, Mandal Phalayan, Jammu.
Official sources said the incident occurred when the Army soldiers at Madaan Post had just finished their lunch around 1.15 pm when a tiff occurred between Sepoy Darshan Lal and Havaldar Ranjodh Singh, which took the shape of heated arguments in which Darshan Lal opened firing at Ranjodh Singh with his official INSAS rifle.
JCO Chamel Singh, who was also on duty tried to intervene and snatch the weapon from Darshan Lal to avert the tragedy.
However, Sepoy Darshan Lal fired several shots towards Havaldar Ranjodh Singh, some of which also hit JCO Chamel Singh. Darshan Lal then turned the rifle toward him and shot himself dead.
Sources said Havaldar Ranjodh Singh and Sepoy Darshan Lal had died on spot while JCO Chamel Singh was seriously injured.
Senior Army officers and jawans from the nearby area rushed to the spot after hearing the sound of gun firing and evacuated the victims to the Army Hospital. By then, JCO Chamel Singh had also succumbed to his injuries as all of them had received multiple gunshot wounds.
Police officers reached the spot for examination of the site. The weapon of offence-an INSAS rifle used by Sepoy Darshan Lal in the firing has been seized from the spot for investigations, sources said, adding that Forensic experts also examined the site.
Army has, meanwhile, ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the firing.
Army spokesman Col Manish Mehta said an Army soldiers shot at two of his colleagues in Poonch sector at 1.15 pm today.
“The accused soldier subsequently turned his weapon on himself and ended his life. Senior Army officers have rushed to the spot to investigate the incident. The Army has also ordered a CoI to ascertain the facts,” Col Mehta said.
However, he said, the reasons behind such a grave provocation were not known immediately.
Sources said since the accused Sepoy Darshan Lal and Havaldar Ranjodh Singh on whom he opened firing and JCO Chamel Singh, who tried to intervene, were all killed in the firing, it wouldn’t be immediately possible to get reasons behind the killing. There was no other Army jawan close to them, who could describe the reasons behind the tiff followed by heated arguments.
“The reasons could be ascertained during the CoI,” sources said.
Meanwhile, post-mortem was conducted on the bodies this evening after which police handed over bodies of the Army soldiers to the local unit for sending the bodies to their residences.
A case of murder and suicide has been registered at Poonch police station for further investigations. Sources said bodies of the Army soldiers would be sent to their houses either tonight or tomorrow morning as all of them hailed from Jammu and Kathua districts.
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