4 Killed, 3 Injured After CRPF Jawan Opens Fire at Colleagues in Sukma District

The jawan opened fire with his service weapon, an AK-47 rifle, following a mutual dispute among the soldiers.

Four CRPF personnel were killed and three left injured after a colleague opened fired on them in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district in a case of fratricide. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: The Quint/Muneeb ul Islam)

Video Producer: Shohini Bose

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

Four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and three injured after a colleague opened fire on them in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district in a case of fratricide on Monday, 8 November.

The injured personnel were immediately rushed to a hospital in Telangana's Bhadrachalam.

The incident took place at 217 Lingalapalli camp of the CRPF stationed near the Lingalapalli village of Sukma's Konta block. CRPF soldier Reetesh Ranjan opened fire with his AK-47 service rifle on his colleagues in the wee hours of Monday.

Three jawans died immediately while one lost his life on the way to the hospital. Three more jawans suffered injuries, with two of them in critical condition. Preparations are being made to transfer them to Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur.

"All the injured are being provided requisite medical care and evacuation of the injured in need of better medical care has been tied up," the CRPF said in a statement.

Reetesh Ranjan was posted with the CRPF's 50th Battalion stationed at Lingalapalli camp in the limits of Maraiguda police station in Sukma.

Out of four jawans gunned down by him, Dhanji and Rajmani Kumar Yadav hailed from Bihar, Rajiv Mandal from West Bengal while the details about Dharmendra Kumar are not yet clear.

Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated that there was a fight between Ranjan and his colleagues in the days preceding the firing.

What CRPF Said

CRPF IG D Prakash while talking to The Quint said, "It's a very unfortunate incident and we have lost good soldiers. The jawan who opened fire has been detained, his arms surrendered, and is undergoing preliminary treatment".

"There were no complaints against him, neither did anything come up in the departmental reviews before this but the incident has happened and we are investigating it. Probably there were some issues in the family or other personal problems that lead to this. We will be able to convey more post investigation," Prakash added.

In a statement, the CRPF further said, "The local police has begun investigation into the case and all legal actions will follow. CRPF has ordered an inquiry into the incident to ascertain the cause of incident and suggest remedial measures."

"Prima-facie it seems that due to some emotional stress leading to sudden psychological disbalance CT/GD Reetesh Ranjan lost his control and in a fit of rage opened fire on his colleagues."

CRPF