Bathinda: In another case of alleged fratricide at Bathinda Military station in Punjab, a soldier on sentry duty was shot and killed near the LoC office of a military unit late Wednesday evening adding to the recent spate of deadly incidents in the military area.
Gurtejas Lahuraj – the sentry on duty was rushed to the military hospital but succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter. Military officials have reported the incident to the police, and the soldier's body is currently at the military hospital.
This incident comes on the heels of another deadly shooting, in which four army jawans were shot and killed at Bathinda Military Station on Wednesday. The Indian Army has issued a statement saying that the incident does not appear to be a terror attack, but rather a fratricidal one, and that the missing INSAS rifle is being investigated as a possible link.
Official sources have revealed that two of the deceased soldiers were from Karnataka and two were from Tamil Nadu. The victims have been identified as driver MT Santosh M Nagra, driver MT Kamlesh, driver MT Sagar Banne, and gunner Yogesh Kumar J. The police have emphasized that the incident is not a terrorist attack, but rather an internal matter, and that forensic investigations are being carried out at the crime scene.
The Bathinda Military Station is an important installation in India, housing the headquarters of 10 Corps of the South Western Command, whose headquarters is in Jaipur. The police have reported that the Army officers have informed them about a weapon that went missing a few days prior to the shooting.
The search operations are underway to establish who fired the shots, and the families of the soldiers killed in the incident are being informed about the loss of lives. The area continues to be sealed off, and joint investigations with Punjab police are being coordinated to establish the facts of the case.
