A man was critically injured after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a police officer’s service pistol during a gathering at Jowai, the headquarters of Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district, police said on Monday. The incident took place between 4:30 pm and 5 pm on Sunday when the victim, identified as Wanda-O-Najiar, was out with friends, including Sub-Inspector Wewanroy Challan, Second Officer-in-Charge of Nartiang Police Station.
Police said Najiar, who was chewing betel nut, took Challan’s pistol and began fiddling with it when it went off, hitting him in the head. “There was no quarrel before the incident, and it was purely accidental,” Challan later told his senior officers.
Najiar was initially taken to a government hospital in Jowai, then shifted to a private facility in the officer’s personal vehicle, before being referred to another private hospital in Shillong for specialised treatment. The firearm was seized for forensic examination, and a show-cause notice was issued to Challan in connection with the incident, police added.