Overworked, underpaid guard was a ticking bomb

Sixteen-hour work day, no weekly offs and delayed salary were the trigger that set off Vishram Singh on a shooting spree on Thursday.

Sixteen-hour work day, no weekly offs and delayed salary were the trigger that set off Vishram Singh on a shooting spree on Thursday.

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The firing at the Govindpuri Extension branch of Muthoot Finance left two staff dead and two seriously injured before the 24-year-old guard turned his licensed gun on himself.

Police found that Singh was not paid for two months. He had mortgaged his land in Etah in Uttar Pradesh to get the gun licence — it helped him get the job of a guard that paid better than his earlier R5,000-a-month job. Private security agencies prefer those with gun licences for a guard’s job.

“To get a licence he had mortgaged his land. Singh was not even getting weekly offs, which frustrated him,” a senior police officer told HT, requesting anonymity.

Singh’s employer Sky Force Security, however, said the claim that he wasn’t paid was incorrect. Chairman SK Singh said he had submitted Singh’s pay slip for R9,300 dated August 10 to the labour department. They would give him a reliever whenever Singh needed, he claimed, adding it was the office (Muthoot) that used to ask him to stay back.

“For the last few days he had not been calling us. He used to send us money but didn't in the last two months — he hadn't been paid,” said Pramod Singh, Singh’s brother, who had come to claim the body. “This frustration led to the incident.”