New Delhi: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan shot himself after shooting dead a colleague at a camp in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. The incident took place around 6:45 am on Monday at a border post in Sagarpara. Both were taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared them brought dead, as reported by news agency PTI.
"In an unfortunate incident, at around 0645 hrs, Head Constable Johnson Toppo of the 117th battalion shot head Constable HG Shekharan, and subsequently shot himself with his service rifle at border post Kakmarichar," a BSF spokesperson said.
After the incident, senior BSF officials, including BSF's South Bengal Frontier Inspector General Atul Fulzele, reached the spot. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered regarding the incident and a case has been registered with the police.
According to officials, the two were summoned by the local police, following which a scuffle broke out between them. The incident comes a day after five BSF personnel were killed at a camp in Punjab's Amritsar. In this incident, four jawans and the jawan who fired at them were also killed.
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According to official data, 19 BSF officers have been killed now in fratricide incidents since 2017.
According to December 2021 data shared by the government in Parliament, an aggregate of 25 fratricide incidents have occurred in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) during 2019-2021.
The largest number of these occurrences occurred in the CRPF (11) trailed by the BSF (nine). The information didn't say the number of deaths that occurred in these incidents.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said that various "measures are taken/being undertaken to promote the mental health and well-being of the jawans".
The other CAPFs where such episodes occurred include the CISF, ITBP, and the SSB separated from the Assam Rifles.
(With PTI inputs)