A Class XII student in Kharagpur was critically injured after a 9mm pistol fired while he was handling it at a friend’s house, police said, revising the initial suspicion that the shooting was linked to gang violence. Three people have been arrested and a fourth suspect is being searched for in connection with the incident.
The student, identified as Akshay Jha, is receiving treatment at a hospital in Kolkata and remains in critical condition, according to hospital sources cited in the report. Police said the incident took place on Wednesday morning in the Old Settlement area of Kharagpur, in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal.
Kharagpur’s Superintendent of Police, Papia Sultana, said the shooting occurred when Akshay was handling a firearm belonging to his friend Sagar’s father, Venkat Rao. According to the police account, Sagar had been showing the gun to Akshay, who then took it and handled it. A first round was a false firing before another bullet struck Akshay on the left side of his chest.
Police said Akshay and Sagar knew each other and regularly visited each other’s homes. After Akshay was shot, Sagar allegedly became frightened and called his friends for help. They then arranged to take the injured student to hospital and later created a story suggesting that he had been attacked, police said.
The police have arrested Sagar, along with Kola Yogeshwar Rao and Bishal Jana. All three are reportedly residents of the Old Settlement area and are between 22 and 23 years old. Cases have been registered against them for attempt to murder and under the Arms Act. Police are conducting searches for another person connected with the case.
Investigators recovered a 9mm pistol and three rounds of ammunition, and collected a bloodstained shirt and blood samples from Sagar’s house. The recovery is expected to form part of the investigation into how the firearm was stored, who had access to it and how the sequence of events was subsequently reported to police.
The incident initially drew attention because of a possible gang-war theory. Sultana rejected that explanation at a press briefing, saying the shooting resulted from handling the firearm and that the police would search the addresses of suspected criminals and seize weapons. She also said the police would not allow residents’ movement in Kharagpur to be disrupted.
State minister and Kharagpur MLA Dilip Ghosh said the city had previously faced a period of mafia activity and that firearms remained in circulation. He described the shooting as an accidental incident involving people known to each other and said the police were working to address the situation.
Akshay’s father is a railway employee, and the family lives in Ward 20 of Kharagpur Municipality. Before the firearm incident came to light, police said, Akshay had been travelling with Sagar on a scooter towards a shop. Sagar noticed that Akshay had fallen near a lane behind a railway event hall, stopped the scooter and sought help from people nearby. The investigation and the search for the remaining suspect are continuing.
