KOZHIKODE: NCC officials have denied a media report saying the Kuthuparamba Nirmalagiri College NCC firing death was a mistake from a junior commissioned officer (JCO).
Col S. Nandakumar said he had been grossly misquoted and to say anything on the incident would be sub judice as the court of inquiry had not pronounced its verdict.
“As an experienced officer, I could tell that there was negligence on the part of the JCO that led to the death of the cadet in accidental firing. We are awaiting the court of inquiry report and action would be taken against the negligent officer,” Col. Nandakumar told DC.
He had also shot down the version of the Kuthuparamba police that M. Anas, 17, was killed when a girl accidentally shot at the target.
Mr Anas was sent to set right the target and was caught in between. Nandakumar said there was no mention of a girl student who took the shot that killed him.
“That could just be a rumour or a false statement,” the colonel said. However, Kuthuparamba police said their preliminary inquiry had confirmed that he was killed by a girl cadet accidentally.
“Our investigation is on the right track and the accused would be arrested. We have also found criminal negligence on the side of Bihari Lal Bose, the junior commissioned officer who was in charge at the firing range at the time of the accident,” Premsadan, CI, Thaliparamba told DC.
In the Kozhikode incident where Dhanush Krishna, 17, was killed in a mysterious gunshot, sources said the NCC investigation wing was not happy about the ‘bullet missing’ theory.
Sources told DC that the officials in charge should not have allowed the cadets to continue firing without recovering the lost bullet.
However, Col Nandakumar said there was no procedural flaw in allowing students to continue firing despite a bullet missing.
“The JCO searched for the missing bullet for more than 30 minutes. He suspected the boy who distributed the bullets and had thoroughly searched him. He had no reason to suspect any cadet who had come for firing and decided to continue the search after completion of firing as there was enough daylight left,” he said.
