Bokaro/Balarampur, Oct. 2: A few firecrackers burst by locals on the occasion of Shasti puja led Indian Reserve Battalion jawans to presume there was a Maoist attack on their camp, prompting them to open fire at an approaching car, killing the man at the wheel and seriously injuring his Bokaro jeweller friend, witnesses in Balarampur said today.

The picture that emerges from various accounts suggests that Thursday night’s unfortunate turn of events occurred because of erroneous presumptions, lack of co-ordination within the security perimeter, jangled nerves, a hair-trigger mentality in and around conflict zones and civilian helplessness in telling between law-enforcers and law-breakers.

That night as Ganesh Kumar Gupta (23) and his friend Vikas Mishra (23) approached the IRB camp in the Purulia town, they were apparently asked to stop by the police but instead they sped on, witnesses told The Telegraph.

At this, the jawans opened fire at the car. Mishra died and Gupta, who was seriously injured, is now recovering at Muskan Hospital in Chas (Bokaro).

Witnesses said that minutes before, hearing the sound of firecrackers, the IRB jawans had rushed out of their camp, some in uniform, others in mufti, all carrying their automatic weapons and firing randomly. They stopped passers by, asking them if they had heard the sound of gun shots and beat them up randomly.

At least 10 of them were even hauled off into the police camp where they were beaten further.

It was around this time that the Indica carrying Gupta and Mishra — they were returning from Jamshedpur — reached the spot. In his statement given to Bokaro police today, Gupta said they had “dodged” a police picket at Chandil, around 30km from Jamshedpur, thinking they could be gangsters in uniform and sped away.

In his statement, Gupta has said that when they approached the Balarampur camp (around 20km from Chandil), there was a “flash of a very powerful light that blinded us”.

“We saw people with Nepali features (the IRB jawans were from Nagaland) in military uniform and camouflage jackets. Then we heard the gunfire,” he said. “Soon after, I found blood oozing out of my abdomen and Vikas lying lifeless next to me.”

Thursday’s incident also underscores how everyday activities such as a night ride in a car can have unforeseen consequences in areas that need not always be in the middle of inhospitable terrain.

According to Samir Kundu, owner of a stationery shop just opposite the Balarampur police camp, he was wrapping up business around 10.30pm when he heard sound of firecrackers.

“On Thursday the people here were celebrating Shasti puja when it is usual to burst firecrackers,” he said. “So I thought nothing of it and went about shutting the shop. But suddenly my brother Dilip ran to me and said it was the policemen firing.”

Samir and his brother immediately rushed into the shop, shut the door and looked through the crack in the window. “There were many policemen on the road, some in uniform, some wearing bermudas and vests,” he said. “They were stopping people, questioning them, beating people up without any apparent reason. We didn’t know what was happening.”

Dilip, however, said that he believed the IRB jawans, upon hearing the sound of the firecrackers, may have thought their camp was being fired at. The IRB, in fact, later filed an FIR with the Balarampur police station saying that their camp had been attacked.

Suddenly, around 10.40 pm, Samir said he saw a car approaching the spot where the jawans had assembled. “The car was moving pretty fast and as it approached the camp the jawans waved their hands asking it to stop.

“They were shouting ‘roko, roko’,” Samir said. “But the car just sped on. The policemen then turned on the car from both sides and started firing at it.”

According to Samir, the car travelled about 500 meters and then came to a halt by the side of the road. The IRB jawans did not pursue the car, but returned to their camp after informing the police.

By the time the police from the Balarampur police station arrived at 11.15 pm --- they had received a call from the IRB commandant --- peace had returned and the jawans had retreated.

“Suddenly, while taking a recce of the place, I found someone waving to me from the Indica,” said sub-inspector Dipankar Sarkar. “I found one person seriously injured and the other lifeless. They were both rushed to Purulia Sadar hospital.”

Purulia SP Rajesh Yadav did not comment, saying the CID was investigating the matter. The IRB’s commandant also refused comment, saying he was not “authorised” to do so.

All 10 people taken into the IRB camp were released by the district police last night. “They were all innocent,” Sarkar said.