A heated argument amongst the soldiers posted at the Kadenar base camp of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has taken the lives of five soldiers.
An enraged ITBP soldier indiscriminately fired and killed five colleagues and critically wounded two others in one of the worst Maoist-affected districts of Narayanpur in south Chhattisgarh. Later the ITBP soldier killed himself with his service weapon AK-47.
The Bastar inspector general of police P Sunderraj confirmed the incident in the 45th battalion ITBP camp, leading to the casualties of the personnel.
“Preliminary information suggests there was some scuffle among the jawan of ITBP in their camp located in the Naxal belt. A soldier opened fire on his colleagues and later he shot himself dead. We are yet to ascertain the actual reason behind this shocking incident and what led to the tussle among the security personnel”, the state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu said.
Unconfirmed sources cited that the ITBP soldier who opened fire was reportedly much distressed over alleged denial of leave and on Wednesday morning entered into some quarrel with other troopers in the camp.
Two personnel who intervened to overpower the jawan also sustained bullet injuries. Their conditions stated to be serious are likely to be air-lifted to Raipur for immediate medical attention. The incident nevertheless has alarmed the armed forces deployed in the anti-Maoist operations in the conflict-ridden Bastar zone.
