Examiner Bureau | Kathua:
Four Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, including an Assistant Commandant, were killed after a Head Constable allegedly opened fire on his colleagues at the Sewa-II Hydroelectric Project in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Tuesday evening, officials said.
The incident took place at around 7 pm at the hydel project in the Basholi area, where the CISF personnel were deployed for security duties.
According to preliminary information, a verbal altercation reportedly broke out among the personnel over an issue before the Head Constable allegedly opened fire with his service rifle.
The deceased were identified as Assistant Commandant Ankit Kumar Pandey, Sub-Inspector Lakshman Singh and Constables Rafiq Ahmed and Sandeep Kumar, officials said. The four sustained critical injuries and later succumbed at a nearby NHPC hospital.
The accused Head Constable, a 2009-batch personnel, was subsequently handed over to the local police, officials said.
A team of the Kathua district police rushed to the site following the incident and began an investigation. The service weapon allegedly used in the firing was also seized.
The CISF has initiated a Court of Inquiry to establish the sequence of events and determine the circumstances that led to the firing. The force’s Director General is monitoring the investigation, officials said.
The incident is being examined as a possible case of fratricide, referring to violence involving personnel of the same force.
The circumstances that preceded the altercation, including the issue that triggered the argument and what led to the subsequent firing, have not yet been established.
The Sewa-II Hydroelectric Project is located in Basholi tehsil of Kathua district, close to the Himachal Pradesh border and in the vicinity of Chamba district.
