Chandigarh/Amritsar: It was a day of tragedies for Punjab Police as three of its personnel died on duty under mysterious circumstances on Friday — two of them from self-inflicted gunshots from service weapons and a third drowning in a shallow pool in the state secretariat.In Amritsar, an ASI was cleaning his service pistol while sitting in a park with his family when it went off, killing him, said police. Joginder Singh was in uniform and preparing to leave for duty when the incident occurred around 1pm, said ACP (South) Preet Inder Singh.“While cleaning his service weapon, he apparently failed to notice that a bullet was still in the chamber, resulting in the accidental discharge,” the ACP said. Police are recording statements of family members.A couple of hours later, in Chandigarh, head constable Gurmangat Singh was found dead in a room in Panjab University’s Botanical Garden. Police said he was killed by a bullet from his own carbine.It is not yet clear if he died by suicide or his weapon went off accidentally, said police. Gurmangat belonged to Amritsar and is survived by his wife and two children.In the evening, 37-year-old constable Parwinder Singh was found dead in an artificial pool on the Punjab Secretariat premises. Police suspect he may have accidentally fallen into the pool after suffering a seizure.No suicide note has been found and the pool is barely 3-4 ft deep.According to police, one of his colleagues saw him submerged in the pool and pulled him out. He was rushed to hospital, where he was declared dead.Police said Parwinder was lately having seizures and may have suffered one such episode. Prima facie, no foul play is suspected, they added. The cause of death will be established after a postmortem examination.Police are recording statements of family members and colleagues.
