Santa Cruz killings: Police say jawan planned to kill a third colleague as well

MUMBAI: The lance naik arrested for shooting dead two colleagues in Santa Cruz (E) on Tuesday had planned to kill one more person but failed, said the police on Wednesday. Lance Naik Rohidas Yadav (49) confessed that he had targeted three people in all after facing harassment, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VIII) N D Chavan. The shooting spree occurred at an air force signal station at 1.15 am on Tuesday, killing S K Singh and Som Dutt as they slept and injuring two more.“Yadav said he didn’t intend to hurt T B Thapa, one of the two injured,” Chavan said. “But Thapa got in the firing line.” Yadav was employed for almost a decade with the Defence Security Corps, tasked with guarding defence installations.Before the shootings, Yadav had called his wife in Rajasthan and told her he would kill his colleagues, said the police.Yadav’s wife told the police she had consoled him and extracted a promise from him that he would not kill anybody.“Yadav confessed that he had called his wife and told her that he was going to resort to killing because he could not take the harassment any longer,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.The police sent the SLR rifle used by Yadav for a report by a ballistics expert at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory.“We have also sought past reports of the accused and the victims from the DSC to get a clear picture on the harassment of the accused and since when it had been happening,” inspector Sudhir Jambavdekar said.