Jawan allegedly shoots self, police claim misfire while cleaning weapon

A home guard jawan allegedly shot himself dead with his service rifle at his place of duty in Chohal village on Monday morning. The police, however, claimed that he was killed in a misfire while cleaning his weapon.

A home guard jawan allegedly shot himself dead with his service rifle at his place of duty in Chohal village on Monday morning. The police, however, claimed that he was killed in a misfire while cleaning his weapon.

55-year old Maha Singh, a native of Badera Rajputana village in Himachal Pradesh’s Amb tehsil apparently shot himself around 5.45 am in the changing room near Chohal check post when two of his colleagues were out. (HT Photo)

55-year old Maha Singh, a native of Badera Rajputana village in Himachal Pradesh’s Amb tehsil apparently shot himself around 5.45 am in the changing room near Chohal check post when two of his colleagues were out.

On hearing the shot, the colleagues rushed inside and found Maha Singh dead in a pool of blood. They revealed that they all were on night duty at nearby Adamwal village and had been shifted to Chohal post early in the morning.

Singh’s colleagues revealed that he was involved in a land dispute in his native village and was upset due to prolonged litigation.The police said they would proceed further only after getting a statement from the aggrieved family.

Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sameer Verma said that it appeared to be a case of misfire. “We did not recover any suicide note from the spot”, he said.

Meanwhile Sadar police took the body in custody and informed deceased’ s family.