Punjab: Another soldier died of a gunshot wound at Bathinda Military Station on Wednesday in a case of suspected accidental firing.
The death of the soldier has no connection with the earlier firing incident, the Army clarified.
"A soldier died of a gunshot wound at approximately 4:30 pm on April 12 at Bathinda Military Station.The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon," the Army said.
"The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region," it said in a statement.
The Army said the soldier was immediately evacuated to the military hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries.The soldier had returned from leave on April 11.
"The case purportedly seems to be of attempted suicide," the Army said.
A senior official said it could be a case of accidental firing as well.
"There is no connection whatsoever with the incident that took place at 4:30 am at Bathinda Military Station," the Army said.
Bathinda Cantt Station House Officer (SHP) Gurdeep Singh said they received information regarding the death of the soldier on Wednesday evening.
"We were informed by the Army and a case has been registered. Prima facie it appears to be an accidental firing case, said the SHO.
The deceased was identified as Laghu Raj Shankar, said police.
4 jawans killed in another incident
Four Army jawans were killed early Wednesday in firing inside a military station in Bathinda in Punjab, triggering a hunt for two men spotted at the scene of the attack with their faces covered and armed with a rifle and an axe.
The four personnel, in their mid 20s, were sleeping when the firing took place around 4:30 am in their barracks near the officers' mess in the artillery unit.
According to "the information we have gathered so far, it is clear that it is not a terrorist act," a senior police officer said.
Initially, the police suggested that it was an incident of "fratricide". However, officials later said there was no clarity on the incident yet.
It is learnt that Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter.
Army sources said a court of inquiry (CoI) will investigate the entire incident in addition to the ongoing probe by the state police with support from the force.
It is suspected that an INSAS rifle, which was reported missing along with 28 rounds earlier this week, was used in the firing incident. The Army said on Wednesday a search team has located the INSAS rifle along with the magazine.
The suspected attackers, who were of medium height, went towards a forested area near the barracks on seeing the jawan, according to the police FIR.
Subsequently, two Army officers went inside the barracks and found Sagar Banne (25) and Yogesh Kumar J (24) in a pool of blood. In another room, the bodies of Santosh M Nagaral (25) and Kamalesh R (24), were found. The bodies bore bullet marks, according to the FIR.
Banne and Nagaral hailed from Karnataka, while Kamalesh and Yogesh were from Tamil Nadu, police said.
The Army has already informed the families of the deceased soldiers about the incident.
The Bathinda military station is one of the largest Army bases in the country and it comprises a significant number of operational units of the force.
(With PTI inputs.)
