New Delhi: A junior commissioned officer of the Indian Air Force was shot dead by his subordinate at the Kalaikunda Air Base in West Bengal on Tuesday.
A rare case of fraticide in the Indian Air Force, the sergeant reportedly shot dead his supervisor at the Kalaikund airbase in West Bengal.
Sergeant RD Rajput was on sentry duty when he reportedly had an altercation with Junior Warrant Officer RC Mishra.
The sergeant fired from his gun killing his superior on the spot. Rajput was immediately arrested. A court of inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
"The incident took place around 5 am when the Sergeant was on guard duty. He directed his Sten Machine Carbine at the JWO and fired the weapon, killing the JWO on the spot," an IAF spokesperson said. The IAF has reported two cases of fragging--one each in 2004 and 2005.
Midnapore police said Rajput was apparently agitated over being asked by Mishra to stand guard at a same spot for long periods.
Rajput reportedly told the police that Mishra continued asking him to be stationed at a particular point inside the Air Base for a long time despite his protests.
Fragging, which is the military term for the killing of a soldier by a fellow soldier, has been troubling the Army for some years. But have been rare in the Air Force.
Coupled with cases of suicides by personnel, the Indian Armed Forces lose about 200 men every year.
In 2007 alone, the Indian Army had lost about 120 men to suicide, particularly from troubled zones of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, which are active, operational areas where the armed forces are fighting insurgents.
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