Stray bullet that hit inmate came from Air Force Station firing range

Ambala, April 12

In January, a 35-year-old woman, Reeta, who was an inmate at the Central Jail, was hit by a stray bullet, which turned out to be from an AK-47 rifle. The Ambala police have now traced the origin of the bullet to the firing range of the Air Force Station in Ambala Cantonment, which is nearly 2.5 km from the jail.

The stray bullet hit Reeta while she was in an open area inside the Central Jail, fracturing her leg in the process. Initially, the police suspected that the bullet was fired from a self-loading rifle (SLR) inside the jail. The police examined the footage of around 85 CCTVs, and the ballistic and forensics experts also gave their reports during the investigation. The reports revealed that the bullet was indeed from an AK-47 rifle, and around 4,180 rounds of the rifle were fired between 9 am and 1 pm at the Air Force station’s firing range on January 18.

The Central Jail and the targets in the firing range are located in the same direction, and the direction of fire becomes vulnerable in case of stray bullet incidents as there’s Officers’ Colony near the jail, followed by a residential sector. The firing range is relatively small, and the height of the retaining wall needs to be increased, said SP Ambala Jashandeep Singh Randhawa.

The Air Force and the Army officials practice on a regular basis, and the Police Department also uses the firing range of the Army. As a precautionary measure, the concerned authorities will be requested to conduct an audit of the firing ranges’ parameters and take corrective steps to prevent such incidents from happening again, he added.

This was the second such incident in Ambala. Earlier, in 2005, a stray bullet had hit a labourer in Babyal village of Ambala when he entered the firing range area. “While getting more information about such incidents, we came to know that in the month of February a stray bullet fired from the firing range of the ITBP had lodged in a door in Derabassi after travelling around 3.3 km. In 2022, a boy in Tamil Nadu was killed after being hit by a stray bullet of an assault rifle,” the SP informed. Meanwhile, speaking to The Tribune, Home Minister Anil Vij said, “Strays bullets coming out of firing ranges is a serious matter. I have decided to write a letter to the Ministry of Defence, requesting them to shift firing ranges from inhabited areas.”