M A I N   N E W S

‘Drunk’ CRPF jawan kills 6 colleagues, shot dead

Ranchi, July 17
A "drunk" CRPF jawan allegedly opened fire from his AK-47 rifle killing six of his colleagues, including an officer, who had reprimanded him for consuming alcohol on duty minutes before the shooting spree in Saraikela district of Jharkhand.

The alleged shooter was gunned down after a four-hour drama by other CRPF personnel last night, preventing further casualties.

Shocked by the incident, CRPF headquarters in New Delhi has rushed Additional Director General (Headquarters) J C Dabas to the spot to find the facts about the fratricidal incident along with other senior officials posted in the state overseeing anti-Naxal operations.

Constable Harpinder Singh of 196 battalion of the CRPF, who was on sentry duty at a camp in Kuchai village of Saraikela district, started firing indiscriminately at his colleagues around 10 pm, a CRPF spokesperson said.

Six of his colleagues, including Assistant Commandant Bikau Singh, were killed in the firing.

According to sources in the force, an altercation broke out between Harpinder Singh and other CRPF men over the quantity of food being wasted in the company mess. Harpinder, who was the mess in charge, started arguing.

Assistant Commandant Bikau Singh then called these men into his tent to solve the issue. Bikau found Harpinder to be “drunk” and ordered a medical test. This enraged Harpinder, the sources said, adding that he picked up his AK-47 rifle and shot dead five personnel, including the officer.

The men at the camp tried for three hours to persuade Harpinder to drop the gun and surrender but he did not pay heed to them and also killed a sentry atop a watchtower, the sources said.

Then the other jawans fired at him to disarm him and stop further killings.

As Singh continued to fire, CRPF personnel at the camp shot him dead around 2 am, the sources said.

The dead include Head Constables M C Patil and I R Khairnar from Maharashtra, Head Constables P T Rao of Andhra Pradesh, Jatav Bhav Singh from Gujarat and constable Vijay Kumar from Uttar Pradesh.