Bhatinda: The Punjab Police said that the Bathinda Military Station firing that left four jawans dead was due to a personal enmity they had with one of the personnel from Andhra Pradesh, on Monday. The police identified the jawan as Desai Mohan whose witness of seeing a duo wearing white kurta-pajamas kicked up a terror angle into the incident.
With this, police have ruled out the terror angle and any Khalistani role in the firing incident. The police were able to locate the weapon from a pit, submerged in water. The ammunition which was hidden in the same pit was found later, police said.
Desai Mohan who voluntarily gave witness to the army seniors had cooked up a story of a man carrying an INSAS rifle and another an axe disappearing into the woods on the sight of him. Among the slain jawans, two were from Tamil Nadu and as many were from Karnataka.
The police said the suspect will be produced before a court and his custody will be sought for custodial interrogation.
Also read: Punjab: Army jawan detained in Bathinda military station firing case
The police also said that though there were CCTV cameras they will not be able to disclose them due to security reasons. However, the accused knew the blind spots of the CCTV cameras and he was not caught on the cameras, he said. The police do not suspect anyone else other than the accused and are presently probing the case. The accused remained in the army cantonment and did not make any attempts to flee. The army is also investigating the case.
He was the witness to the incident. We got suspicious, as there were gaps in his statement and the facts became more inconsistent with every other statement of his was recorded. Once, we confronted with his own statement, he confessed to the crime. We discovered that he is the accused. We have also recovered the ammunition and empty cartilage. Now, the case direction will be limited to the multiple murders and the army will continue their investigation from their side.
