Were Four Men From '18 Horse Regiment' Killed in Bathinda Military Station?

Four personnel of the Indian Army were killed in their sleep at the Bathinda Military Station on Wednesday, 12 April by unidentified assailants.

Soon after, a message by a Twitter blue tick user "Saffron Diaries" started doing the rounds to claim that "a Sikh soldier allegedly killed four Hindu soldiers belonging to the 18 Horse Regiment."

The tweet had over two lakh views at the time of filing this story. However, this is not the only user making this claim. The "information" is being widely shared online.

But what are the facts?: Based on a complaint by Major Ashutosh Shukla of the 80 Medium Regiment of Artillery, Punjab police have filed an FIR against two unknown people. A joint investigation into the matter is currently underway.

• The complainant said that on being informed about the incident, he reached the spot and saw two men standing in kurta-pyjama.

• "Out of the two unidentified persons, one was carrying the INSAS rifle in his right hand, and the other was carrying an axe. They were healthy and of medium built height," the FIR reads.

• As per Major Shukla's complaint, the two men escaped towards the jungle.

• The police has said that it appears to be an "internal" matter and has ruled out any "terror" angle.

What about the claim of a Sikh soldier killing them?: We don't know anything about the identity of the men so far. What we do know is that the four deceased have reportedly been identified as:

• Gunner Sagar Banne

• Gunner Kamalesh R

• Gunner Yogesh Kumar J

• Gunner Santosh M Nagral

What about them belonging to 18 Horse Regiment?: There is no "18 Horse regiment" in the Indian Army. It is a part of the Pakistan Army. We found a 2020 Gazette notification issued by the Pakistan government. It mentioned the names of officer being appointed as Colonel of the regiment/battalion. One of the mentioned regiments was "18 Horse."

So, is it safe to call it fake?: The part about "18 Horse" is certainly false and the fact that it attributed the information to "sources in the Army" and got the regiment wrong does raise questions about its authenticity. Also, there is very little information that has been made available. So one should certainly think about the source of this information.

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