Staff Reporter
KHARSANG, 18 Nov: In what appears to have been an incident of accidental cross-firing in Injan village in Changlang district, an Assam Rifles (AR) jawan and a village boy were seriously injured on Friday evening.
A source in the Changlang police informed that three boys from Injan village, identified as Khamwang Hakhi, Reylom Longri and Lemong Longri, had gone fishing upstream of the Remi river at around 4:30 pm.
“They had gone there with a converter to catch fish, with Hakhi carrying a muzzle loading gun with him,” the source said.
It is learnt that, after reaching the river, they were preparing to fish when Hakhi spotted something shining on the other bank of the river, and shot in its direction. However, firing started from the opposite direction too, the source added.
It emerged later that a column of the 11th AR was present in that area and one of its personnel, Riflemen Vikash Kumar, suffered gunshot injury to his chest.
He was evacuated to the military hospital.
Lemong Longri sustained three bullet injuries to his leg from the retaliatory firing. He was taken to the Kharsang CHC.
It is reported that the AR resorted to retaliatory firing, suspecting that they had been fired upon by militants under the cover of darkness.
On being fired upon by the AR jawans, the boys fled from the spot. Reportedly, Hakhi ran towards his home, and in the process he threw away his gun into the river.
Villagers and others later gathered outside the AR camp in Kharsang and protested over the incident at around 9:30 pm. The police intervened and defused the situation.
It is learnt that a team of the Changlang police later went to the place of occurrence and recovered the gun from the river.
This daily was unable to contact the AR for comment.
