An Indian Army gunner was arrested on Monday, April 17, in connection with the April 12 murder of four jawans at the Bathinda military station. An eyewitness, the gunner had falsely claimed to see two masked men dressed in kurta pajamas fleeting after murdering the four jawans.
Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police Gulneet Singh Khurana identified the arrested soldier as Desai Mohan. He was quoted by PTI as saying, “The motive was personal. He had enmity with them.”
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SSP Bathinda Gulneet Khurana in a joint press conference with the Indian Army on Monday said Initial investigations indicate that this was due to personal enmity.
“After sustained interrogation, we found that one weapon has been stolen and that was used to kill the jawans. Later, one individual from the artillery unit was detained and during interrogation, he confessed to his involvement in stealing an INSAS rifle and killing four of his colleagues to the police,” Khurana said.
ARMY’s statement
The Jaipur-based South Western Command of the Indian Army released a statement saying Mohan confessed to the police that he killed the four army personnel.
“On 12 April 2023 at around 0430 hours, while he was on sentry duty, he recovered the weapon from its hiding place, moved to the first floor, and killed all four personnel while they were asleep. The individual then proceeded to throw the weapon into the sewage pit. The weapon and additional ammunition have been recovered from the sewage pit,” the army said in the statement.
“Indian Army practices zero tolerance to such acts of indiscipline and is committed to ensure that the guilty will get punished as per law,” the statement said.
The killing of four Army Jawans
On Wednesday, four Indian Army jawans were killed in an early-morning firing incident inside the Bathinda Military Station in Punjab. After the eyewitness’ claim, Punjab Police filed an FIR against two unidentified men who were reportedly dressed in white kurta pajamas and carrying a rifle.
Four soldiers were killed while they were sleeping near the barracks behind the officers’ mess at Bathinda military station on Wednesday. The terror angle was ruled out by the police.
The Indian Express quoting a police official familiar with the investigation reported that on the night of the killings, the gunner ensured that the four jawans are asleep. The officer said, “The jawans slept at around 2am. He checked on them at 3am and then at 4am before finally committing the crime with the rifle he had stolen a few days earlier from a nearby sentry post,” the official said.
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