Patna, February 10
A drunk CRPF jawan gunned down a national-level kabaddi player, Manisha Devi, before shooting himself with an AK-47 rifle here yesterday. Though Manisha died instantaneously, her killer is still surviving with critical bullet injuries at the Patna Medical College Hospital.

Manisha, employed as a clerk in the commercial department of the Danapur division of East Central Railway, was to play for the Bihar team in the 34th National Games being held at Ranchi (Jharkhand) from February 12. The killing of Manisha — who had earlier played for her native state Himachal Pradesh and the Railways, her employer — has given a jolt to the entire sports fraternity in general, and  the Bihar kabaddi team in particular.

A native of Jhalwari village in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, Manisha was staying in the railway staff quarters at Rajendra Nagar in Patna. She was sharing the quarter with another kabaddi player, Minu. The team members of the state women kabaddi team who were to participate in the National Games had been practising on the grounds of Moinul Haq stadium at Rajendra Nagar for the past few days. The 131st battalion of the CRPF has been stationed in the stadium for past many years.

According to an eyewitness account, Manisha was returning to her residence after her routine practice at the stadium around 5.45 pm yesterday when CRPF jawan Yashwant Singh accosted her and asked for her mobile phone number. Manisha rebuked him and walked away from the stadium premises along with her roommate and some other friends.

However, the drunk CRPF jawan, holding an AK-47 rifle, intercepted her again outside the stadium campus and repeated his demand. On her refusal to give him her phone number, he pushed her down on the ground and shot her from a very close range before shooting indiscriminately in the air and himself. A passer-by was also hit by a stray bullet fired by the jawan, but he is out of danger. Manisha’s friends rushed her to a nearby private hospital, but the doctors present there declared her “brought dead”. The police rushed the injured CRPF jawan to the PMCH where his condition is stated to be serious.

Shimla, February 10
She worked for years to improve her game, skipped the all-important plus-two examination to attend the national coaching camp and battled injuries just to fulfil her dream to don the national kabaddi colours. However, destiny willed otherwise. The promising career of Manisha Devi came to an abrupt end as a bizarre act of violence by a CRPF trooper cut short her life.

Hailing from the remote Jhalwari village (Chirgaon) in Rohru, Manisha has been in the run for a place in the national team since 2005. In fact, it was her performance in the national championship that got her a job in the Railways and with better facilities and greater exposure, she was confident of getting a call for the national duty. But that was not to be. The loss was all the more tragic as it is not often that girls from such backward pockets make their mark in sports at the national level. A pall of gloom descended on Chirgoan as the news of her death reached the village.

Her fellow players, coaches and officials who accompanied her during various tournaments are shocked and wonder why a sincere girl like Manisha should have met such a bloody end and for no fault of her. Anita, her roommate at the Dharamsala sports hostel, has been shattered by the news of her death. “She was of amiable character, liked by all the girls, but it was her dedication to the game and sincerity that made her favourite of the coaches,” she said.