Fratricide, suicide rock IAF base

Chandigarh, July 18 (IANS) The Indian Air Force (IAF) base depot here was rocked by a gruesome fratricidal killing and a suicide, police said Monday.

An IAF sergeant was killed by his colleague in the wee hours Sunday.

According to the police, the deceased was identified as Surjit Singh Saini, in his late 30s. He was killed by sergeant Gurmeet Singh Gill (38), who was his close friend. Both the victim and accused were posted at the 3 Base Repair Depot (BRD).

'Saini and Gill were close friends and they used to roam around and play together after duty hours. They went out to have drinks on Saturday night. After having liquor at a non-commissioned officers' mess here, they went out on a bike. Then they again consumed liquor outside Kendriya Vidyalaya school here in Sector 31,' said Jaspal Singh, investigation officer of the case, Monday.

'They then entered into a heated argument and Gill picked up a brick and attacked Saini. Saini was hit several times on the head. A PCR (police control room) van found Saini lying in a pool of blood in the wee hours Sunday and took him to hospital. However, doctors declared him brought dead,' stated Shukla.

Gill surrendered before his seniors and was handed over to the police late Sunday.

Police said that Gill confessed to his crime and said he had attacked Saini in self-defence. Saini, who hailed from a Punjab village, is survived by his wife and two kids.

In another incident, an IAF sergeant at the 3BRD committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance Sunday.

Police said the deceased was identified as Hari Shankar (36) and he was suffering from depression