A jawan allegedly shot dead his colleague following a quarrel over leave at Kanker district headquarters in Chhattisgarh, bordering Odisha’s Malkangiri on Sunday.
The deceased has been identified as Surendra Bhagat, working as a Havildar and the accused as Purushotam Singh.
According to sources, both Bhagat and Singh were deployed at PG College in the Kanker district headquarters to guard the electronic voting machines (EVMs). The machines were kept at the college for the by-election.
Singh had applied for leave some days ago. On the ground of ill health, he had got his leaves sanctioned as well. They had a quarrel over leave on Sunday morning. The scene turned ugly when Singh lost his cool and opened fire at Bhagat from his service INSAS rifle, giving little time for the latter to escape.
Bhagat dropped dead on the spot. After committing the crime, Singh went into the strong room and sat there. On being informed, police in bulletproof jackets reached the spot and nabbed the accused.
On the other hand, after the post-mortem, the body was sent to the deceased’s ancestral village. Registering a case, the police have launched an investigation.