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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 10 June 2025

Killer CRPF man was taken off rifle duty

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan Balveer Singh, who shot four of his colleagues dead with his service rifle at the upcoming power plant in Nabinagar on Thursday, had earlier been debarred from rifle duty for rash behaviour.

Ramashankar Published 14.01.17, 12:00 AM

Patna, Jan. 13: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan Balveer Singh, who shot four of his colleagues dead with his service rifle at the upcoming power plant in Nabinagar on Thursday, had earlier been debarred from rifle duty for rash behaviour.

Aurangabad superintendent of police (SP) Satya Prakash said on Friday that Balveer was not allowed to perform rifle duty at his previous place of posting. "Investigations are underway to ascertain under what circumstances he (Balveer) was assigned rifle duty here," the SP said over phone from Aurangabad.

Satya Prakash refused to share details following the arrested jawan's interrogation. "We are looking into every aspect of the incident. Nobody will be spared for lapses, if any," he said on repeated queries.

On Thursday, CISF officials had said they had not received any complaints about Balveer's rash behaviour. "He (Balveer) had no previous record," CISF public relations officer Manjit Singh had told this paper on Thursday.

Balveer fired 32 rounds with his Insas service rifle following an argument with some of his colleagues. While two personnel died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital.

On Friday, Balveer, who hails from Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh area, was produced before the Aurangabad court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. His service Insas rifle was seized soon after.

An investigating officer said Balveer had an argument with some of his colleagues over leave after he returned from mandatory yoga training in Deoli, Rajasthan. "The colleagues used to taunt him over denial of leave," the officer said. On Wednesday, Balveer had a heated argument with some jawans over his shift duty, leave and sleeping space in the barrack. He lost his cool when some colleagues passed some lewd remarks on Thursday. Senior CISF officials, however, denied that Balveer took the extreme step out of frustration over leave or any mental stress.

"Balveer had completed a mandatory yoga course at the Regional Training Centre in Deoli (Rajasthan) and returned to work after a short leave earlier in the month. He was in Deoli from November 10 to December 23 and then on leave till January 3, when he visited his native Raopur village in UP," CISF's deputy commandant-cum-PRO Manjit Singh said over phone from Delhi on Friday.

CISF inspector-general (eastern region) Anil Kumar, who visited the spot on Thursday, announced that family members of each of the four killed jawans would be paid ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh and be given a government job.

Three head constables - Amarnath Mishra, Bachcha Sharma and Arvind Kumar and assistant sub-inspector Gauri Shankar Ram - were killed in the indiscriminate firing. The CISF has already ordered a court of inquiry into the incident.

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