CRPF jawan kills 4 colleagues, injures 7 in Chhattisgarh's Sukma

Four CRPF personnel were killed and seven others injured after their colleague opened fire at them while they were sleeping in a camp in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Monday.

The accused jawan has been identified as Ritesh Ranjan.

As per the official statement, "In the preliminary investigation it has emerged that Ritesh Ranjan (accused CRPF jawan) after getting ready for duty, randomly opened fire on other personnel sleeping in the barrack."

However, the exact reason behind this incident is yet to be ascertained, an official statement from Sukma district police said.

Three of four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in the firing hail from Bihar, and one from West Bengal. They have been identified as Dhanji, Rajib Mondal, Rajmani Yadav and Dharmendra Kumar.

"Regret to inform that in a fratricide case CT/GD F.No. 1100110058 Ritesh Ranjan has opened fire on Company personnel in C/50 Lingalapalli under PS Maraiguda in early hours at about 3.15 A.M and in the incident 07 personnel were injured and immediately rushed to Bhadrachalam area hospital for first aid," the CRPF said in a statement.

Sources told IANS that a team of senior CRPF officials, Inspector General (IG) Bastar along with Sukma district collector have reached the spot and further investigation was underway.

The incident occurred around 3.30 a.m. at a camp of CRPF's 50th battalion deployed in Lingampalli village of Sukma, around 400 km from the state capital Raipur.

Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has expressed grief over the unfortunate incident.

He (Baghel) has asked the police officers to take all necessary measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur, the chief minister's office said in a statement.

--IANS

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