Jawan guns down Major over use of phone

An army Major was shot dead by his subordinate following an altercation over the use of a cellphone in Uri sector of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Tuesday.

A police officer said the jawan shot dead Major Shikhar Thapa with his service rifle at Butcher Post after the officer reprimanded him for using a mobile phone while on duty in a sensitive area.

Major Thapa belonged to 71 Armoured Regiment but was attached to 8 Rashtriya Rifles, the army’s elite counter-insurgency unit deployed in Uri, where 19 soldiers were killed in a fidayeen (suicide) attack by militants in September last year.

“Major Thapa confiscated the cell phone of the jawan, whose identity was not known immediately, which led to an argument. The soldier shot the officer with his AK-47 rifle at around 12 am,” a source said.