Major shot dead by jawan in Manipur

While the Army has not yet issued any statement, it is learnt that the incident took place at a unit deployed in counter-insurgency role at Moltum, in the Chandel district where the Army has recently intensified operations against the United National Liberation Front (UNLF).

Sources said Havaldar Ashok Kumar from the 10 JAKLI regiment entered Major Ankit Bharadwaj’s bunker on Tuesday afternoon and asked him for leave to go home. When his plea was refused, the enraged soldier fired almost 30 bullets at the officer from his service weapon before surrendering. The Major, who belongs to West Bengal, died on the spot.

“The Havaldar returned from duty, changed to civilian clothing from his combat fatigues and went to the Major to ask for leave. Shortly afterwards, he emptied the entire magazine of his AK 47 into the officer,” an official confirmed.

Sources said the Army unit in which the incident took place is engaged in an extensive battle to evacuate UNLF forces from the region. It had recently stepped up operations in the region.

While the Army has seen an alarming increase in fratricidal killings over the past few years — close to 70 Army personnel have fallen to their colleagues’ bullets since 2001— a record of sorts was created this year with not even a single incident coming to light till now.

In fact, Defence Minister A K Antony commended senior officers at the Army Commanders Conference in April for the decline and urged them to “respect the dignity of jawans and redress their grievances on priority”.

Last year, the Army hardened its stance on fratricide by sentencing two jawans to death for killing officers in separate incidents. A series of measures were also introduced to reduce stress among troops after a study by DRDO found out that factors like denial of leave, verbal abuse by officers and personal problems at home were the leading causes of fraticidal killings.