Three brothers, including a police constable, were killed and four others were injured when two neighbours, both belonging to the Jat community, resorted to indiscriminate firing and verbal sputters at each other over a personal enmity at Sikrora village of the Bharatpur district in the wee hours of Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Gajendra Singh, 52, a constable in the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, Samandar Singh, 58, and Ishwar Singh, 50. Three of the seriously injured, including two women, were admitted to the SMS Hospital in Jaipur, the SHO of Kumher police station Himanshu Singh informed SNS.
A case under various sections of the IPC including Section 302 for murder was registered and three persons associated with Lakhan Singh, an alleged shooter, were detained for interrogation, he said.
The accused, Lakhan, and the deceased, Gajendra, are said to have been not only good neighbours but also good friends. But a few days ago, the deceased’s son, Tenpal, had a serious altercation with Lakhan. However, timely intervention of villagers saved the situation and led to reconciliation between the two.
Late on Saturday night, during a drinking session, when the matter came up the two families fought a pitched battle pelting stones on each other. Soon the fight turned into bloodshed when Lakhan allegedly opened fire. Lakhan was accompanied by his aides during the violent fight, according to the SHO.
When things went out of control, heavy police force was to be deployed to maintain law and order in the village.
Meanwhile, bodies of the dead were handed over to the family after postmortem last evening.