NEW DELHI, Apr 13: After four army personnel were killed in a firing incident in the wee hours of Wednesday, another soldier was killed on Wednesday evening in a separate incident in the Bathinda Military station in Punjab, army said on Thursday.
It was not clear if the gun went off accidentally or it was a case of suicide. The soldier identified as Laghu Raj Shankar was on sentry duty at the military station when the soldier’s service weapon went off. He was grievously injured and succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
“A soldier died of a gunshot wound at approximately 4:30 p.m. on April 12 at Bathinda Military Station. The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon,” the Army said. “The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region,” it said in a statement.
Army officials further said the deceased jawan’s service weapon went off accidentally. Although he was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital he succumbed to his injuries. ,
Gurdeep Singh, SHO, Bathinda Cantt Police Station said the soldier had returned from leave only on Tuesday. The case purportedly seems to be of attempted suicide. There is no connection whatsoever with the incident that took place at Bathinda Military Station yesterday, the Army said.
Four army personnel were killed in firing in the wee hours of Wednesday at the same military station. While the police had ruled out terror attack, an FIR filed by the army major on the firing incident said two masked men were seen in the station compound about five minutes before the firing incident. No arrest has yet been made in this connection.
(Manas Dasgupta)
