CRPF constable who killed colleagues did it over a personal grudge, say reports
Santh Kumar was upset with a platoon commander who had filed a complaint against him and accused him of leaving the camp without permission.
The Central Reserve Police Force constable, who allegedly shot and killed four of his colleagues at a camp in Chhattisgarh’s Basaguda area, was targeting a commander over a personal grudge, the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.
The constable, Santh Kumar, was upset with platoon commander sub-inspector Vikey Sharma, said an officer supervising the investigation. “Preliminary information suggests the firing happened only from one end, and this was after some internal conflict,” P Sundar Raj, Deputy Inspector General, Chhattisgarh Police (Dantewada division), told The Indian Express.
Sharma had accused Kumar of leaving the camp and going to a nearby village looking for alcohol, the Hindustan Times reported. Kumar was then shifted to the main camp in Basaguda and given the job of a dog-handler, which he refused to do.
Kumar planned to attack only Sharma, said the police. “But since he fired from an AK-47 rifle, which is an automatic weapon, the bullets sprayed and others in the vicinity were killed,” an unidentified officer told the Hindustan Times.
Two sub inspectors (including Sharma), an assistant sub-inspector and a constable were killed, while another jawan was injured. Kumar was taken into custody soon after the shooting.
