Another death due to gunshot wound in Bathinda station; seems to be suicide: Army

Chandigarh, April 13 (IANS) Hours after the killing of four Army men inside the Bathinda military station in Punjab, another jawan died when his service weapon went off accidentally, police said.

The Indian Army, in a statement, on Thursday said there was no connection whatsoever between both the incidents. The second one purportedly seems to be an attempted suicide.

A soldier died of a gunshot wound at around 4.30 p.m on Wednesday. He was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier, it said.

The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region. He was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

The jawan had returned from leave on April 11.

Meanwhile, a police station in the cantonment received a complaint about the accidental death of Army man Laghu Raj Shankar and the police have started a probe into this matter.

After the killing of the four men, the Indian Army had said a search team has located the INSAS rifle along with the magazine involved in the killing. However, it said no individual has been detained.

"The Army and police joint teams will now be undertaking forensic analysis of the weapon for ascertaining further details," it said in a bulletin on Wednesday evening.

Two unidentified persons in civil dress opened fire at Army personnel sleeping in barracks early Wednesday, killing four men, the Superintendent of Police (Investigation), Ajay Gandhi had said, adding 19 empty shells of an INSAS rifle were recovered from the spot.