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SSF personnel posted outside Ram temple dies of gunshot injury: Police
Ayodhya Range inspector general (IG) of police Praveen Kumar said the deceased was identified as Shatrughan Vishwakarma who was deployed at VIP gate of Koteshwar temple, nearly 150 metres from newly constructed Ram Temple.
A 25-year-old UP Special Security Force (SSF) personnel, who was deployed in security of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, died of bullet injury under mysterious circumstances early morning on Wednesday, confirmed senior police officials.
Ayodhya Range inspector general (IG) of police Praveen Kumar said the deceased was identified as Shatrughan Vishwakarma who was deployed at VIP gate of Koteshwar temple, nearly 150 metres from newly constructed Ram Temple.
He said the incident took place at around 5.30am when the deceased was deployed there along with two other security personnel.
“The deceased suffered bullet wound in the middle of his forehead. Other security personnel deployed there rushed him to a local hospital where he was declared brought dead,” said the official.
“Either he shot himself by placing the barrel of the gun on his forehead or the gun fired accidentally when he would have fell asleep while holding the weapon in his hand,” said the IG.
He said the video statements of the two security personnel are being recorded and they stated that they had last spotted him watching a video on his mobile. “They said Shatrughan suddenly slumped on the ground when they turned around after hearing the bullet sound,” he added.
The IG said further investigation into the matter is going on. He said the forensic team was also called to examine the spot and figure out what exactly happened with the deceased.
Notably, one of the six battalions of the UP SSF, which was raised on the lines of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in 2021, has been deployed in the security of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya for the past 18 months.
This is the third such incident reported in Ayodhya in the past 10 months.
Earlier this year on March 26, a commando Ram Pratap who was deployed in security of Ram temple premises, was found injured inside his room. He had sustained bullet wound on his chest reportedly fired from his service AK-47 assault rifle. The bullet had pierced through his body and he recovered from his injuries after treatment for over a month at KGMU trauma centre in Lucknow.
On August 25, 2023, another PAC personnel Kuldeep Kumar Tripathi, who was also deployed around red zone of Ram temple premises, succumbed to bullet wound fired from his own service rifle. The police official suspected that Tripathi had committed suicide over some personal reason.
