Hyderabad, October 31: It was not a burst of fire but a single bullet from a 9 mm carbine that killed two students and injured two more at the Open House organised as part of Police Commemoration Day at the Zilla Parishad High School in Velurupadu in Khammam district on Oct. 20.
Moreover, the constable demonstrating the gun to the students had not kept his gun loaded but did so only at the urging of the students.
Though initially police, including DGP K Aravinda Rao, said it was a sudden burst of fire in which 5-6 bullets went off accidentally, probe has revealed that it was a single bullet which pierced one student, exited, then hit another and likewise injured two more.
The bullet finally got lodged in the leg of one of the students. The two children who died were M Venkata Krishna, 15 and P Satyasai Babu, 13. The injured were G Naveen and P Kishore.
Among the students who gathered there, these four students stood very close to the weapons and were jostling to have a closer look.
Meanwhile, one of the students requested APSP constable M Srinivas to demonstrate how a bullet is loaded and fired.
Till that time, the constable’s 9 mm carbine, which is known to be an unstable and risky weapon, was not loaded — despite standing instructions that constables in Maoist-infested districts must always keep their weapons loaded.
“Srinivas Rao took out a single bullet from his pocket and loaded it in the chamber even as the children watched.
Even if he wanted to demonstrate the working of the gun, which he was not authorised to do, he should have pointed the weapon to the sky. But the moment he loaded it, the breech lock in the weapon got pushed forward and the weapon went off, sources explained.
The single bullet first pierced the chest of Venkata Krishna, exited and then pierced the stomach of Satyasai Babu and exited yet again, grazed the cheek of another student and finally got lodged in the leg of another.
Khammam superintendent of police Kanthi Rana Tata said Srinivas Rao’s weapon was indeed not loaded and it was at the insistence of some student that the over-enthusiastic constable took out a bullet from his pocket and loaded it. “It was only a single bullet which led to the deaths of two student and those injured,’’ he said.
Another senior police official said that since the bodies of children are quite delicate, the bullet pierced and exited twice. “Had it hit an adult, it may not have exited as it did in this case.’’
–Agencies