Kolkata: One killed as CISF jawan opens fire at colleagues – Times of India

KOLKATA: A CISF sub inspector was killed and an assistant commandant of the force was severely injured after a CISF head constable opened fire at the CISF Barrack inside Indian Museum, the largest and oldest in India, on Saturday evening.
The CISF constable was nabbed by Kolkata Police officers in one and half hours, before he could cause any more harm. The man has been arrested. None of the visitors or museum staff were harmed.
The incident happened around 6.30pm, 15 minutes after the museum had closed for the public, the assailant armed with an AK 47 opened fire at a car when the sub inspector was leaving the barrack from the back gate of the museum premises.
Over the next one and half hours began one of the most covert operations in recent history of Kolkata Police as a large team of officers led by Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal, armed with guns, bullet proof jackets and tear gas shells managed to nab and disarm the head constable.
Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal on the museum firing: “We were informed around 6.30pm that firing was going on inside the Indian Museum. We immediately sent teams of DC central, Combat team, and QRT to reach the premises. We tried to take control of the situation. We were in continued communication with the CISF team and we finally succeeded in convincing and disarming the man.”
“One ASI has been killed and one assistant commandant rank officer has been injured. The accused is a head constable. Approximately 15 rounds of firing took place. But it is too early to say why the assailant had opened fire. We will question him for more details,” said Goyal.
While he was being taken out of the museum in a police jeep, he was found smiling and waving at TV cameras waiting outside. The deceased was identified as CISF sub inspector Ranjit Sarangi. Subir Ghosh, an assistant commandant, is still admitted at SSKM Hospital with bullet injuries.
Sources said, the head constable – Akshay Kumar Mishra, a resident of Dhenkanal in Odisha, had lost his father three days ago and had sought leave. However, his leave was denied, sources said.
Sources said Kolkata Police had taken a two-pronged approach in their attempt to nab the head constable. Police said Mishra had hid in a room after the initial rounds of firing and as Kolkata Police officers asked him to surrender using a loudhailer, he allegedly asked them to drop their guns as a condition of him to surrender.
A specialised team of cops was immediately formed who put on bullet proof vests and helmets and started walking close to him and kept him busy in talks. Sources said, Mishra kept on blabbering in Hindi from behind the closed doors of the room. Another team of policemen armed with guns and tear gas shells surrounded the room from behind to ensure safety of the unarmed officers who were counselling the man from outside the room.
Around 8pm, the man finally came out of the room, dropping his gun and surrendered before the cops. He was shortly put on a police car and was taken out of the premises.
A total of 59 personnel of the paramilitary force, led by an Assistant Commandant (AC) rank officer, were inducted at the museum to secure it against all kinds of threats, including those from terrorist elements.
Saturday’s incident comes less than two months since a 28-year-old Kolkata Armed Police constable, on his first day of duty outside the Bangladesh deputy high commission near Park Circus had opened indiscriminate fire from his SLR, killing a 28-year-old woman and injuring three others. Constable Chodup Lepcha, CCTV, footage showed, kept loading and shooting seven times before aiming the final bullet at his own neck.