Bathinda: In an incident of accidental firing having no connection with Wednesday’s Bathinda military station killings, a soldier died of a gunshot wound on Wednesday evening at around 4.30pm. The Army said there was no connection with the incident that took place at 4.30am at Bathinda Military Station in which 4 were killed. The soldier, in the second incident, was sent on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to him. The wound was near his right temporal region. The incident seems to be of attempted suicide, the Army said in a statement. On April 11, the soldier returned from leave.
The incident took place about 12 hours after the Bathinda Military Station firing in which four jawans were killed.
Bathinda Cantt Station House Officer (SHP) Gurdeep Singh said they received information regarding the death of the soldier on Wednesday evening. “We were informed by the Army and a case has been registered. Prima facie it appears to be an accidental firing case,” said the SHO. The deceased was identified as Laghu Raj Shankar, said police
The investigation is on into the earlier military station firing as Punjab Police registered an FIR against two unknown persons on the basis of the statement of Major Ashutosh Shukla, a witness in the incident. The four jawans were asleep in their rooms after their duty when two masked men in white kurta pyjamas attacked them with rifles and sharp-edged weapons. The INSAS rifle with cartridges has been found.
