Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Four personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), including an Assistant Commandant, were killed after a colleague allegedly opened fire at a camp near the SEW-2 hydropower project in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. The incident was reported on Wednesday.
According to reports, the shooting took place during a change of duty, when an argument reportedly broke out among CISF personnel. The situation escalated into firing, leaving four personnel critically injured. All four later succumbed to their injuries.
The deceased have been identified as Assistant Commandant Ankit Kumar Pandey, Sub-Inspector Lakshman Singh, Constable Mohammad Rafiq and Constable Sanjeev Kumar.
The incident is being treated as a suspected case of fratricide, the term used when a serving member of a force kills colleagues, and a further investigation is underway. Officials have not yet made public any detailed account of the sequence of events, and the circumstances that led to the confrontation remain to be established through the inquiry.
The CISF is entrusted with guarding critical infrastructure across the country, and hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir form part of the installations that require round-the-clock security cover. Personnel deployed at such sites work in shifts, and a duty change is a routine handover point in that cycle. That the firing reportedly followed an argument at this very moment has sharpened attention on how disputes among personnel are handled in camps far from home postings.
Cases of this kind are relatively rare but serious for any armed force, and they invariably prompt scrutiny of working conditions, stress management and the mechanisms available to resolve grievances before they escalate. Investigators will be expected to examine the events leading up to the shooting, the manner in which the weapon was accessed, and any earlier signs of friction among those on duty.
For the families of the four men, the loss is sudden and devastating. Assistant Commandant Pandey, Sub-Inspector Singh and Constables Rafiq and Kumar were serving in a sensitive assignment in one of the Union Territory’s most important power-generation zones. Further details are expected as the investigation progresses.
