Pune: A 51-year-old Lance Naik (retired) allegedly fired three bullets into his throat from an Insas rifle set on automatic mode while performing guard duty at one of the watchtowers of the Ammunition Factory Khadki (AFK) in the early hours of Saturday.Police recovered three empty cartridges from the watchtower where the deceased, identified as Jagdish Raj, had started his duty around 4am. Raj was a resident of Sohagpur in Jammu & Kashmir.Inspector Vikramsingh Kadam of the Khadki police said, “Raj died on the spot. According to the duty schedule, each guard performs duty at a watchtower for four hours. Jagdish went to the tower in the early hours and shot himself after about half-an-hour. He had set the rifle on automatic mode. As a result, three bullets fired at a time.”Kadam said, “We have not recovered any suicide notes from the spot. Therefore, we do not know what prompted him to take the drastic step. After the post-mortem examination at Sassoon General Hospital, the body was handed over to his relatives in the evening.”The police said Jagdish had joined the Defence Security Corps (DSC) after retiring from the Army and was posted at the ammunition factory for the past few years. “We will investigate the duty hours of these guards to determine if Raj was under any stress or work pressure. We will also record the statements of the security personnel present at the site to understand the circumstances that led to the incident,” another officer from the Khadki police station said.According to AFK officials, the factory has around 14 watchtowers along its perimeter wall. Guards posted at these towers maintain aerial surveillance and prevent intrusion into the campus. They are not permitted to sit inside the towers and are always equipped with a rifle.“The security in-charge of the factory, who is an Army officer, is responsible for the entire security arrangement. He and his staff assign duties to the guards and conduct security checks. It is also the responsibility of the in-charge and supervisors to keep track of the guards’ mental and physical well-being,” a senior AFK official said on the condition of anonymity.The deceased is survived by his wife and a daughter. Police said that he had returned from leave on June 28.Ends
