Bathinda firing: Manhunt for perpetrators on; jawan dies by suicide at same base

A day after four soldiers were killed in a suspected fratricide attack at the Bathinda military station in Punjab, the army on Thursday continued its search for the perpetrators, even as another soldier reportedly committed suicide at the same base on Wednesday -- an incident that officials said was unrelated.

The soldiers from 80 Medium Regiment were sleeping in their barracks near an officers’ mess when the shooting incident took place in the wee hours. The victims died of multiple gunshot injuries.

All soldiers from the unit are being questioned extensively for clues that could lead to a conclusion, the officials said. No soldier from the unit is missing, they added.

This indicates, as reported by HT on Thursday, that the persons who carried out the attack may have rejoined the unit, making the army’s task of identifying them difficult.

Senior army officials, who asked not to be named, earlier said the incident was likely a planned fratricide attack and pointed to an automatic weapon and 28 rounds that went missing from an army unit three days ago, indicating that the same rifle may have been used. The weapon and some of the ammunition were recovered after the attack.

The police, who are also investigating the matter, had a slightly different version on Wednesday. Superintendent of police (investigation) of Bathinda police Ajay Gandhi, who is leading the probe, said the crime is being probed from all angles adding that a terrorism angle has not been completely ruled out.

The police also claimed to have an eyewitness who claimed there were two attackers, one with a gun and the other an axe, and that they disappeared into the surrounding forests taking advantage of the darkness.

On Wednesday, quick reaction teams were activated after the shooting at 4.35 am. The Jaipur-based South Western Command issued three statements on the incident on Wednesday, but none described it as fratricide. The statements also did not say who may have been responsible for the incident.

There was no statement from the army on the matter on Thursday but the force issued a statement on the suicide that took place 12 hours after the suspected fratricide attack, and stressed that it had no connection with the latter incident.

“A soldier died of a gunshot wound at 4.30 pm on April 12 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,” the statement said.

This soldier had returned from leave on April 11, and the case purportedly seems to be of suicide, it added. Additional director general of police, Bathinda range, SPS Parmar said it could be a case of accidental firing as well.

“There is no connection whatsoever with the incident that took place at Bathinda Military Station in which four jawans died. The jawan was posted on some other campus, away from the spot where four jawans were found dead on Wednesday early morning,” said the ADGP.

The Bathinda military station is the largest military base in Asia and home to the army’s HQs 10 Corps. The Chetak corps is responsible for defending India’s border with Pakistan in south Punjab and north Rajasthan.

The victims of the suspected fratricide attack were identified as Gunners Sagar Banne (25), Kamalesh R (24), Yogeshkumar J (24) and Santosh M Nagaral (25). The four were killed in their rooms near the officers’ mess and the police recovered 19 empty shells of an Insas rifle from the crime spot.

A first information report (FIR) was lodged at the cantonment police station against two unknown persons.