Chennai: An Army rifleman allegedly shot dead a havildar and killed himself with the same rifle in the Pallavaram Army camp here on Tuesday, hours after the latter ‘punished’ him for his “lethargic attitude” while on duty.
The deceased were identified as Havildar Praveen Kumar Joshi (38) of Dehra Dun in Uttarkhand and the rifleman, Jaikusheer Singh ( 21) of Punjab, of the 17th Battalion of the Jammu & Kashmir rifles regiment.
The incident took place around 3.30 am on Tuesday. Havildar Praveen Kumar Joshi and rifleman Jaikusheer Singh had reportedly entered into a heated argument on Monday night as the former was getting back to his room. Sources said the Havildar had allegedly punished Jaikusheer Singh for coming late to duty and being lethargic and this had resulted in the altercation.
Posted on security duty on Monday night, Jaikusheer, according to police sources, entered the bedroom of havildar Praveen Kumar Joshi and shot him thrice in his abdomen. Hearing the sound of gun shots, army officials rushed to the spot. But before they could get to him, Jaikusheer had shot himself twice with the same rifle.
Both men were rushed to the Military hospital in Nandambakkam, where they were declared brought dead. Sources revealed that an INSAS assault rifled was used by the rifleman to shoot the Havildar and himself.
The Regiment Major, Ullas Kumar, arrived at the spot and conducted enquiries.
Military Police were deployed at the Pallavaram Camp after the freak incident. Defence officials remained tight-lipped over the incident, maintaining it was under investigation.
The Pallavaram police have registered a case and shifted the bodies to the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital for post-mortem. The police are investigating whether the altercation between the two Army personnel was the reason for the shooting or if there were any other reasons. Investigations are continuing.
