Guwahati, Nov. 21: A fully loaded 9mm pistol in pocket, naik Arun Saikia watched television, played a game of carom and had dinner with his friend, constable Palash Barua, at the 13th Assam Police Battalion at Lilabari in Lakhimpur district last evening.

It was like any other day for the two close friends except that it was to be their last. Just before retiring for the day, Arun shot Palash once in the head and then turned the pistol on himself.

The incident happened last night at the headquarters of the 13 Assam Police Battalion at Lilabari in Lakhimpur district, nearly 319km from here, where both were posted. The battalion headquarters is located near Lilabari airport.

The commanding officer of the battalion, Randeep Kumar Baruah, said Arun, who was in-charge of the armoury, had taken a 9mm pistol with him when he left duty around 5.30pm yesterday. He shot Palash, who was busy reading a book, on the head from point blank range before shooting himself in the head, too, at the barracks around 10pm as several other personnel watched in horror and disbelief.

“It was a planned killing,” the battalion commandant said. While Palash died soon after being taken to the civil hospital, Arun survived for about an hour. Palash and Arun were the best of friends and shared adjacent beds at the barracks with 13 other colleagues.

Their relations soured recently because of yet undisclosed reasons. Such was the relationship between the two that Arun’s family said when he came home on leave, Palash used to make unending phone calls requesting him to return to the headquarters soon.

“Arun changed a lot since Palash came to the battalion,” a relative said. “His visits home also became few and far between,” he added. Prabin Barua, an uncle of Palash, however, described the incident as cold-blooded killing. “They were such good friends,” he said, still in a state of shock.

Palash, 26, joined the battalion as a fresh recruit about two-and-a-half years back while Arun, 35, was already there. Randeep Baruah said though pistols are only allotted to sub-inspectors and above, Arun could get hold of the pistol since he was in-charge of the armoury of the battalion yesterday.

There are three personnel in charge of the armoury who do duty by rotation. “The pistol was fully loaded with 10 bullets but only two were fired,” he said.

The commandant said Arun had told few mutual friends in the battalion a few days back that although he liked Palash very much he (Palash) had been neglecting him.

Palash, who was working as an office assistant in the battalion, was also a good volleyball player and had represented the state team once. While Arun was from Sutiakari village, Palash was from Dhalpur Kachua village, both in Lakhimpur district.

The Lakhimpur additional superintendent of police (headquarters), Mehijeet Gayan, said Palash’s marriage had been fixed for early next year. “Maybe the two had fallen out over this. Investigations are on,” he said.

A salami (guard of honour) was offered to the slain policemen at the battalion headquarters this evening.