A sub-inspector of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate suffered a bullet wound in his left foot after an assistant sub-inspector allegedly fired his service weapon — accidentally, according to an initial inquiry — at the Techno City police station barracks in New Town on Thursday morning.
Sub-inspector Kaushik Ghosh has been admitted to AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake.
“A male patient, 38, was brought to the hospital with a bullet wound in his left foot around 2.20am on Thursday. He said in his statement in the Emergency ward of AMRI Hospitals Salt Lake that while his colleague was putting down his gun at the officers’ barracks of Techno City police station, his service weapon was accidentally fired and the bullet hit him (the patient) in the left foot. The patient has suffered a complex fracture in his left foot and will undergo surgery. He is otherwise stable,” said an official of the AMRI group.
The assistant sub-inspector who allegedly fired the gun has been suspended, the police said.
“Following the incident, the ASI has been suspended for negligence and department proceedings have been started,” said Bidhannagar police commissioner Gaurav Sharma on Thursday afternoon.
He said an officer of the rank of deputy commissioner would probe the incident.
A senior police officer said preliminary findings suggest the gun was accidentally fired.
The officer who is said to have spoken to both the victim and the accused told The Telegraph that till now nothing had surfaced that could raise the suspicion that the ASI had deliberately targeted the sub-inspector.
“The victim, too, had said that it was a case of accidental firing. It appears to be an act of negligence while handling arms. If anything else is found in the probe, necessary action will be taken,” the officer said.
An officer of Techno City police station said the incident happened after sub-inspector Kaushik Ghosh had returned from a raid.
Abhijit Ghosh’s 0.32-bore service revolver has been seized, the police said. The weapon will be sent for a forensic examination.
Last August, a CISF head constable had fired his service gun, killing a colleague and injuring another, outside the paramilitary force’s barracks on the Indian Museum premises on JL Nehru Road. Head constable Akshay Kumar Mishra, 43, later fired at police vehicles before being persuaded to surrender.
Mishra, who was in charge of the armoury in the CISF unit at the museum, had purportedly said that some of his colleagues would harass him by circulating a picture they had been clicked while he had allegedly dozed off on duty.