Aizawl: A 56- year-old armed police personnel gunned down his two colleagues in a fit of rage in Buarchep area in Kolasib district on the Mizoram-Assam border on Sunday evening, a senior police officer said.
The three havildars, belonging to the 2nd battalion of Mizoram Armed Police (MAP), were guarding the border (performing duty) alone at an advance camp when the incident occurred at around 6:15 pm on Sunday, Mizoram Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Lalbiakthanga Khiangte said.
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Their duty post was located at an oil palm plantation area about 400 metres from the main camp at Buarchep village, about 10 km from Vairengte village in Kolasib district, he said.
In a fit of rage over the alleged complaint made by his colleagues about his behaviour, the accused Bimal Kanti Chakma fired multiple rounds with his service rifles (AK-47) at the victims, Khiangte said.
The victims have been identified as J Lalrohlua and Indra Kumar Rai, he said.
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While Lalrohlua died on the spot, Rai succumbed to his injuries on the way to Vairengte village, he said.
Lalrohlua was found lying in a huge pool of blood splattered all over the kitchen floor and the accused was seen sitting on his bed with his service rifles when the commander of the main Border Outpost (BOP) and his staff reached the site soon after they heard multiple gunshots, Khiangte said.
On inspecting nearby area, Rai was found lying helplessly and severely injured about 30-40 feet from the place of incident, he said.
One AK-47 rifle along with one magazine containing 13 live rounds was seized from the accused, he said.
At least 15 empty cartridges and one projectile suspected to be fired from the rifle was also recovered and seized from the site, Khiangte also said.
Chakma was arrested and produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court on Sunday night.
He was remanded to judicial custody and was sent to Kolasib district jail around 1:30 am on Monday.
A case was registered against the accused under section 302 of the IPC (murder) at Vairengte police station, Khiangte said.
According to the senior police officer, an initial interrogation of the accused revealed that he was a habitual alcohol abuser (drinker) and his colleagues had repeatedly reported his behaviour to their post commander.
Chakma told police that his colleagues used to report about him being often drunk and before the heinous incident, he quested the two victims as to why they used to report about him to the post commander.
Eventually, he acted spontaneously and shot at his colleagues without provocation, Khiangte said.
When Rai was questioned before his final breath, he had said that they did not have any arguments and were just shot by the accused.
The incident sparked anger with the state apex student body Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) cautioning Chamka people not to venture outside as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident.
The organisation functionaries also held a picketing before Chakma House in Aizawl on Monday morning.