Jammu, Aug 8: In one of the rear cases, army personnel at a camp in Samba district turned hostile and staged protest demonstrations against the higher authorities following suicide by one of their colleagues during duty hours, near here on Wednesday morning.
Trouble erupted after a soldier of 16 Light Cavlari Regiment ended his life by shooting himself with his service rifle near Mehsar area of district Samba. Sources said that Swaran Arun V, resident of Kerala, a solider of 16 Light Cavlari Regiment camped at Mesar, Samba was on guard duty since last night. “He was about to be relieved when he went inside his barrack after receiving a phone call,” sources said.
They further said that Swaran said to his colleague Sanntri Rajeev that he was going to wrap up his bedding. “After minutes a gun shot was heard and when Rajeev went inside he found Swaran in a pool of blood. The soldier had shot himself from his service rifle and within minutes he succumbed”, sources said.
It was reliably learnt immediately after the incident, other soldiers posted in the camp came out of their barracks and protested against their senior officers, who according to them were responsible for the death of their colleague, who had sought leave in view of some urgency at his home.
The soldiers even locked some of the army officers inside the office while some other officers locked themselves in the officers’ mess, unofficial sources claimed.
The matter was resolved after senior army officers negotiated with the protesting soldiers ensuring them that the matter would be enquired in depth.
Though army has ordered a court of inquiry to ascertain the reason behind the suicide, it denied the reports of any protest within the camp. “I am not aware about any such protest”, Defence PRO Jammu said.
Station House Officer (SHO) Samba Rajinder Khajuria said that the matter was being investigated. “As per preliminary investigation the deceased had returned after spending vacation in June this year and there is no possibility of conflict over leave issue,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 9 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST