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This story is from November 8, 2021

4 CRPF jawans killed, 3 injured as colleague opens fire with AK-47 in Sukma

4 CRPF jawans killed, 3 injured as colleague opens fire with AK-47 in Sukma
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NEW DELHI: A fratricide incident in the CRPF early on Monday claimed the lives of four personnel and injured three others after a jawan, in a supposed fit of rage caused by “sudden psychological imbalance”, used his service weapon, an AK-47, to fire upon his colleagues at the force’s Linganpalli camp in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
Even as the local police have begun investigation into the case, which will be followed by suitable legal action, the CRPF on Monday ordered an inquiry into the incident to ascertain the cause of the fratricide and suggest remedial measures.
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The enquiry will involve speaking to the jawan’s immediate family and his colleagues, apart from a possible analysis of his phone calls and messages.
Though what exactly triggered the rage of Reetesh Ranjan – who was all dressed up to begin his sentry duty at 4 am, but ended up spraying bullets on his colleagues at 3.15 am – is still not clear, some accounts hint that Ranjan was having issues with the victim personnel. It is suspected that there was some argument or teasing of Ranjan by the victims occupying the same barrack, possibly the evening before the incident and just before he fired.
A CRPF statement on Monday said: “Prima-facie it seems that due to some emotional stress leading to sudden psychological disbalance CT/GD Reetesh Ranjan lost his control and in a fit of rage opened fire on his colleagues”.
Service weapons remain with the personnel deployed in terrorism and Left wing extremism-hit pockets at night, to ensure that they can defend themselves in the event of an attack. However, they also tend to be misused for fratricidal attempts by personnel under severe mental stress.
The dead personnel were identified as CT/GD Dhanji, CT/GD Rajib Mondal, CT/GD Rajmani Kumar Yadav and CT/GD Dharmendra Kumar. Three of them were from Bihar and one from West Bengal.

Of the three injured, all of whom were rushed to Bhadrachalam area hospital after the incident, two were later airlifted to Raipur.
Nearly 680 Central armed police personnel have committed suicide in the last six years, while 1764 and 323 personnel have died in accidents and encounters over the same period, according to a reply given by MoS(home) Nityanand Rai to a question in the Rajya Sabha in August this year.
According to NCRB report on Accidents and Suicides in India for the year 2019, 104 Central armed police personnel were killed in accidents and 36 committed suicide in 2019. This data head does not figure in the 2020 report, with some reports indicating that the same has been discontinued as there was often duplication of data with the CAPF suicides showing up in general suicides reported by states.
Both suicides and fratricides in Central forces are blamed on high stress levels among the personnel that are often linked to long periods of separation from families due to lack of leave and difficult duty conditions. The forces have tried to tackle this with counselling of the jawans and assisting them in managing their stress levels with yoga, meditation and ‘Art of Living’ sessions.
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About the Author
Bharti Jain

Bharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.

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