CISF jawan kills assistant commandant, 3 other personnel after ‘argument over bringing child to site’

“The couple worked in different shifts at the same site. So, when one parent reported for duty, they would bring the toddler along to hand him over to the spouse returning home. The couple was asked not to bring the child to the project site,” said the officer.

“Today, too, one of them had brought the child to the site to hand him over to the other partner when someone complained about it to the company commander (the assistant commandant). This triggered an altercation, leading to the firing,” the officer said.

Besides Assistant Commandant Pandey, the deceased include sub-inspector Lakshman Singh and constables Sanjeev Kumar and Mohd Rafiq.

Singh has been arrested. “Singh, who was deployed with QRT ‘B’ Shift, entered the office premises and allegedly opened indiscriminate fire from his issued AK-47 rifle, carrying 150 rounds of ammunition,” said a CISF official.

Since the location of the incident, at far-off Mashka village, is accessed only through Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district, the victims were rushed to a nearby NHPC hospital in the neighbouring state, where they succumbed to injuries.

Police and security forces immediately moved into the area and secured the premises of the hydel power project.

The 120-megawatt Sewa Hydel Power Project-II is located on the Sewa River, a tributary of Ravi, between J&K and Himachal Pradesh.

While the actual project structure, including the dam at Gatti and the powerhouse at Mashka, geographically falls in J&K’s Kathua district, it directly harnesses the Sewa River near the border of Himachal Pradesh.

(With inputs from Mahender Singh Manral in New Delhi)