A 26-year-old soldier posted at Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of the President's Bodyguard was shot behind the ear during a quarrel over firecrackers in his village in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district. The soldier, Saurabh Tomar, joined the army in 2021. He is married and has a nine-month-old child.
The shooting took place on Diwali night in Gopalpur Khadana village, in the Baraut area. Police said they received information about the firing on 8 November. Reports of the incident, and a video of Tomar speaking from hospital, circulated on 11 November.
How the incident unfolded
According to the family's account, Tomar was bursting firecrackers outside his home with his brothers Vineet and Mintu when two neighbours, Dheeraj and his brother Monu, also called Praveen, came over. Vineet told reporters the two were intoxicated and abused the family. An argument followed, and Dheeraj allegedly pulled out a country-made pistol and fired. One bullet hit a wall and another struck Tomar behind the ear. The brothers of the accused then allegedly beat Vineet with a stick before the crowd dispersed and the accused ran away.
Tomar was taken first to the community health centre at Baraut and then to a private hospital in Meerut, where doctors removed the bullet in surgery. Reports on his condition differ: he was first described as critical and in intensive care, and later as stable. In a video from hospital, Tomar said he was out of danger and receiving treatment in Meerut.
Police action
Police registered a case on a complaint from Tomar's father, Hanak Raj, against Dheeraj and Monu. Baraut Superintendent of Police Anshu Jain said police received information on 8 November and formed three teams to trace and arrest the accused, given the seriousness of the case. No arrests were reported in the accounts available. Police said the shooting followed a dispute over bursting firecrackers, and that the two families knew each other and had earlier been on friendly terms.
No statement from the Army was reported in the accounts available. On the evidence so far the shooting arose from a personal dispute between neighbours and is not described as an attack on the President's security, but it is a firearm attack on a serving soldier of the President's Bodyguard, and police are treating it as a serious case.
