Drunken policeman goes on firing spree in Jammu

Jammu, Jan 31 (UNI) A panic gripped in Gandhi Nagar locality here when a police constable went berserk and fired a full magazine from his service INSAS rifle last night, official sources said today.

The policeman, identified as Arvind Sharma, climbed the building of recreation hall inside the District Police Lines (DPL) and started firing intermittently on other police personnel who were trying to pacify him.

Senior officers also rushed to the spot while a cordon was maintained by the police in a bid to capture the drunken constable alive.

The police, however, managed to take hold of the constable late in the night, the sources said, asserting that no one was injured in the incident.

Constable Sharma, resident of Doda district, was posted at Rajouri and was presently deployed with special guard duty at the Old Secretariat.

The constable, who was putting up at DPL quarters, was upset after being slapped by a senior officer on some complaint against him, eyewitnesses told UNI.

''In the night, Arvind Sharma consumed heavy dose of liquor and ran amok. He took his rifle, climbed the nearby building and started intermittent firing,'' they said.

However, the police have yet not registered any case against him, and was shifted to the Gandhi Nagar police station after the incident.

UNI VJ SW DS1402