An army jawan, Desai Mohan, who till last week was the sole witness of the killing of four army personnel at Bathinda military station on April 12, has been arrested for murdering the soldiers.
In a joint press briefing, Bathinda senior superintendent of police Gulneet Khurana and military station officers said that the accused has confessed to turning the gun on his colleagues to avenge the humiliation and harassment meted out to him by them. They said it was early to confirm the kind of harassment the accused was facing at the hands of the four soldiers. Mohan had stolen the INSAS rifle, 20 cartridges and eight LMG bullets. He hid the weapon and ammunition at an isolated spot of the army base for two days before targeting his colleagues early in the morning on April 12.
Police have recovered the rifle and six live rounds of the LMG from a pit in the compound. Mohan was among the four jawans summoned for questioning by the police on Sunday. Bathinda senior superintendent of police Gulneet Khurana said that during investigation, Mohan said he was facing repeated harassment.
Four soldiers — Sagar Banne, Kamlesh R, Santosh Nagaral, and Yogeshkumar J — were shot dead on April 12 as they slept in their rooms near the officers’ mess of the heavily guarded military base. The deceased and the accused were colleagues at the mess.
According to the first information report (FIR) at the cantonment police station on April 12, Mohan claimed he had spotted two masked men in white kurta-pyjama near the crime scene.
