- Four CISF personnel were killed on Tuesday, September 29, at a camp attached to the Sewa-II hydroelectric project in Basohli, Kathua district, J&K.
- Officials say a verbal argument came first. A 2009-batch head constable then allegedly opened fire.
- Media reports name the dead as Assistant Commandant Ankit Kumar Pandey, Sub-Inspector Laxman Singh, and Constables Rafiq Ahmad and Sandeep Kumar.
- The accused is with Kathua Police. CISF is setting up an internal inquiry.
- No official word yet on motive.
Officials put the time at about 7 pm. The place was a CISF camp at the Sewa-II project, in Mashka village, Basohli, close to the Himachal Pradesh border.
Two jawans had been arguing. Over what, nobody has said. One of them, according to officials quoted by PTI and ANI, then started firing indiscriminately, and four men went down.
They were rushed to a hospital across the border in Himachal, per some reports. Early copy talked about "critical injuries" and said confirmation of deaths was awaited. That changed within the hour. By evening, every major outlet was saying four dead.
Senior officers reached the site fast. The area was cordoned off, and security around the project has been tightened.
Assistant Commandant Ankit Kumar Pandey. Sub-Inspector Laxman Singh. Constable Rafiq Ahmad. Constable Sandeep Kumar.
Those are the names circulating in media reports, and spellings shift a little between outlets (Lakshman, Ahmed). I couldn't find a list issued by CISF itself, so treat them as reported, not confirmed. Nothing about their postings or families has surfaced yet.
He's a head constable, 2009 batch. The Week, citing ANI, says he was handed to police and arrested.
A few outlets have printed a name. They don't agree on the spelling, so it's not repeated here. That's the sort of thing that should wait for police.
What's missing is more telling than what's known. Nobody has said what weapon it was, or how he had it in hand during what one account calls a shift handover. Those are exactly the questions an internal inquiry exists to answer.
Small thing, but you'll notice it if you read around. PTI's report, carried by The Tribune, places this at the Sewa-III project. Most others say Sewa-II. Same belt, same village, same evening. I've gone with Sewa-II because the majority of reports, including The Week and Free Press Journal, use it, and a CISF statement will settle it.
People tend to picture CISF at airports and Delhi Metro stations, which is fair, but the force also guards power plants and other industrial sites. In J&K that includes hydel projects. The jawans often live in camps on the premises for long postings, which means the people you argue with at 7 pm are the people you'll see at breakfast.
Analysts have linked fratricide cases in central forces to stress, personal disputes and leave grievances. Nobody has suggested any of it applies here. It'd be guesswork, so I won't make it.
In August 2022 a CISF constable opened fire at the Indian Museum in Kolkata. An assistant sub-inspector died, and an assistant commandant was wounded. Before that, at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, a head constable shot three colleagues dead at a barracks. The then CISF chief called it disconcerting and said it hadn't happened in the force for a long time.
Different places, different circumstances. Same uniform on both sides of the gun.
Kathua Police will be taking statements from the others at the camp. CISF's own inquiry is being set up. A formal statement from CISF headquarters or the Home Ministry is the thing to wait for, since it should finally fix the names, ranks, timeline and location.
One more caution. Early posts on social media spoke of five casualties and different ranks. That doesn't match the more careful reporting, which says four dead and one detained. This story goes with the latter.
