J&K: CRPF jawan guns down 2 colleagues

A trooper of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force shot dead two of his colleagues and wounded two others inside the heavily guarded CRPF camp at Kokernag in south Kashmir Anantnag district on Friday night.

A senior police officer said head constable Ramesh Chander went beserk after a quarrel with his colleagues and started firing indiscriminately from his automatic service rifle. "Head constable Tufail Khan and head constable Sudha Shiva of 164 batallion died on spot while two other troopers were critically wounded," the officer said.

The injured troopers were shifted to hospital for treatment. Sources said head constable Ramesh Chander was overpowered by the CRPF soldiers who rushed to the spot after hearing the gunshots and was handed over to the local police on Saturday morning. The firing inside the camp triggered high panic and tension in the area.

Incidents of fratricidal attacks and suicides have taken place among the security forces during the over 20-year long violence in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials attribute such aberrations to continued duty in the hostile area and separation from families and lack of recreational avenues among the security forces.

Counsellors have been engaged and recreational facilities have been developed at the unit levels, besides regular periodic leaves are some of remedial measures to address the problem.