The Hindu : New Delhi News : CRPF jawan dies, another injured in exchange of fire

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Sunday, Jul 27, 2008
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CRPF jawan dies, another injured in exchange of fire

Staff Reporter

It all happened inside Mayur Vihar police station

Shootout took place after an altercation between two cops
A fall-out of some personal dispute, say senior officers

Photo Anu Pushkarna

It happened here: The toilet of the Mayur Vihar police station where the shooting took place in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: A Central Reserve Police Force head constable was killed and a constable injured in an alleged exchange of fire between them inside the Mayur Vihar police station building here on Saturday.

Both the policemen were posted with 82nd Battalion of the CRPF which is in charge of security arrangements at Akshardham Temple. They belonged to two platoons of the battalion that had been putting up at the Mayur Vihar police station since July 20 and were slated to move out on Saturday.

Twenty-five-year-old Constable Rajbir allegedly pumped three bullets into the chest of 40-year-old Head Constable B.C. Yadav with his SLR rifle killing his senior on the spot. The constable, too, was shot once in the stomach in alleged retaliatory fire.

He has been admitted to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital and his condition is described as stable.

The alleged shootout took place inside the toilet on the third floor of the police station building after an altercation between the two policemen around noon on their return from a six-hour spell of morning duty.

Though the exact cause leading to the shootout was not known, senior CRPF officers maintained that it was a fall-out of some personal dispute between the two policemen.

“It is a matter of investigation as to what actually led to the argument between the two and the subsequent shootout. Prima facie, it seems the two fell out over some personal matter and opened fire at each other,” said Deputy Inspector-General (CRPF), New Delhi, Ravi Prakash.

Rubbishing all talk of work-related stress or sodomy as the possible cause behind the incident, another senior CRPF officer said: “These people (the constabulary) are sensitive to certain issues and that could have led to the shootout. About four or five rounds were fired. The forensic report will clear the picture.”

Later in the day, CRPF spokesperson Ajay Chaturvedi said Rajbir had stolen one of his colleagues’ money and Head Constable B.C. Yadav, who was in the know of it, had been putting pressure on him to return the stolen money. “On Saturday, the Head Constable threatened to report the matter to the Commandant on his visit. Fearing disciplinary action, Rajbir followed B.C. Yadav to the toilet and opened fire at him. He then attempted suicide and shot himself in the stomach. Six rounds were fired in all.” Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Ajay Chaudhry, however, said that investigation was still on and it was too early to comment.

Head Constable B.C. Yadav was a native of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and had joined the force in 1989. Rajbir, a Delhi resident, had joined the CRPF in 2004.

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