Four personnel were killed in a shooting incident inside Bathinda military station in Punjab, early on Wednesday morning. An Insas rifle and 28 rounds of ammunition which went missing from the 80 Medium artillery regiment two days ago was apparently used in the shooting incident.

Army chief General Manoj Pande briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the unfortunate killing of personnel, said sources.

The identity of the deceased and the perpetrators has not been divulged by the Army so far. A jawan, it is learnt, also went missing ahead of the killing spree.

Since morning, the Army cordoned off the area after the shootout at 4.35 am, which prompted the authorities to activate quick reaction teams to hunt down the perpetrator.

“Four army jawans of an artillery unit succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained during the incident. No other injuries to personnel or loss/damage to property have been reported,” South Western Command Head Quarters said in an official statement. Joint investigation with the Punjab police are being coordinated to establish the facts of the case.

“All aspects including the possible case of involvement of an INSAS rifle along with 28 rounds reported missing two days back are being ascertained,” said the Command HQ.

The local police has registered an FIR on the killing of four jawans. As per the local police, two masked-men, sporting white kurta pyjamas, attacked four jawans -- Sagar, Kamlesh, Santosh and Yogesh who were sleeping -- with rifles and sharp-edged weapons.

During the joint inspection of the military station, the investigators have managed to find out the Insas rifle, used in the shooting, from the military station compound itself, police sources said.

“It could be a case of fratricide,” was the initial reaction of one of the sources but the Army is waiting for more details to arrive at a complete picture of the shooting incident.

Earlier incidents

According to government statistics presented before parliament, the Army reported two cases of fratricide in 2019. In 2018, one case of fratricide was reported and 80 deaths by suicide.

Similarly, in 2017 too, there was one reported instance of fratricide and 75 deaths by suicide, and, in 2016, there were two cases of fratricide, and 104 instances of death by suicide.

The tri-services — Army, Air Force and Navy, have run an elaborate mental health programme since 2009 to help their personnel. Besides that, stress management sessions are organised at regular intervals at all major stations.

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