Punjab: Soldier In Bathinda Killed Fellow Soldiers As He Was Harassed By Them, Say Reports

An Indian Army soldier killed four fellow soldiers at a military station in Punjab's Bathinda earlier this month as he was being harassed, according to reports.

Earlier on April 12, four Indian Army personnel were shot dead in Bathinda in their sleep early morning. A stolen rifle and 19 bullet casings were recovered from the spot, reported The Tribune at the time, adding that the rifle was reported missing on April 9.

Initially, two men were suspected to have been involved in the incident. However, one Army soldier has been arrested in the case, said police on Monday.

Reports have said that the soldier said that he killed fellow soldiers as they used to harass him.

India Today reported, "The killing of four Army jawans at Bathinda military station on April 12 was the result of personal enmity and there is no terror angle, the Army and Punjab Police said in a joint press conference on Monday. Interrogation of the accused jawan revealed that he was allegedly being harassed by the Armymen he killed, police sources said."

Another story reported by defence journalist Ajai Shukla says that the soldier was being sexually harassed.

"The four army jawans who were shot dead on April 12 while they were asleep in Bhatinda were killed by an insider, after he was allegedly sexually harassed and sodomised by them, says a senior army officer who is close to the army’s investigation into the case," reported Shukla.

However, no official word has so far come on these reports. On Monday, Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police Gulneet Singh Khurana identified the arrested soldier as Desai Mohan, and said, "The motive was personal. He had enmity with them."

An FIR was lodged in this connection at the Bathinda Cantonment police station under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Arms Act against two unidentified persons.

It was Desai Mohan who had said that he saw two unidentified men in white kurta-pyjama, their faces and heads covered with cloth, coming out of the barracks after the firing. One of them was carrying an INSAS rifle and the other an axe, the jawan had said in the police FIR.

This was a fake story concocted by the accused soldier, reported India Today.

"Weapon used to kill the jawans and the rounds were stolen by Desai. He concocted the story. The axe story was false. The accused jawan was trying to confuse the polic," India Today quoted police as saying.

(With PTI inputs)