Army Major Shoots Himself Dead With AK-47 Rifle Inside Official Residence

A major in the Indian Army reportedly shot himself dead with his AK-47 rifle on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The Indian army’s Rashtriya Rifles Major, Parvinder Singh from Priyadarshini Vihar in eastern Delhi was found dead at his camp quarters in Banihal town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district on Saturday night.

The 29-year-old Army officer was the company commander of 23 RR’s Ramban detachment, Alpha Coy Mahubal.

The motive behind his decision to take such an extreme step is unclear at this time, a police official said.

The police have registered a case under Section 174 ( inquest on unnatural death) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and further probe is underway.

"As the death happened under mysterious circumstances, inquest proceedings were initiated at Khari police post to find out what led the military officer to shoot himself. No suicide or any other note was found," the Times of India quoted a police official as saying.

This is an ongoing investigation and no further details were revealed by the authorities at the time of this writing.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a 17-year-old international-level shooter allegedly shot herself with her licensed pistol inside her residence in Faridkot, Punjab, India on Thursday, Dec. 9.

The deceased teen, identified as Khush Seerat Kaur Sandhu, was allegedly unhappy with her performance in the recently concluded 64th National Shooting Championship.

"She had shot herself with her .22 pistol and died of a headshot wound. According to the family, she was disappointed with her performance in the nationals held in Delhi earlier this week. We have handed the body to the family after autopsy and have launched the investigations. No suicide note has been recovered," Inspector Harjinder Singh, SHO of Faridkot City police station, said.

Police said Sandhu had won multiple national medals in the past years but failed to bag any in the individual category in the National Shooting Championship held in Delhi this year.

"Had she shared what she was going through with us, we could have counseled her," Sandhu’s father, Jaswinder Singh, a government school teacher, said.

Faridkot Police has registered a case of unnatural death and is investigating the incident.