PILIBHIT: A farmer in his mid 60s was "accidently hit" by a stray bullet when 30
CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) personnel from Uttarakhand were practising shooting with Insas assault rifles at Pilibhit police firing range adjacent to the district jail.
The farmer, Shri Krishna from Semarkhera village, was taken to the district hospital but later shifted to a private facility by his family.
His condition is stable, police said.
Pilibhit city circle officer (CO), Deepak Chaturvedi, said, "The effective firing range of Insas rifle is 400m, but the bullet can travel up to over 1km. The farmer was mowing grass in his field, located 1.2 km away from the firing range when he was hit by the bullet in the gluteus maximus, the main extensor muscle of the hip."
SP Avinash Pandey said, "The CISF officials failed to make mandatory safety announcements within a radius of 2km from the firing range to alert locals, which led to the incident." The CO of Pilibhit reserve police lines, Upasna Pandey, will conduct an inquiry, the official said.
The SP also confirmed that "the 5.56 mm bullet extracted from the victim's body during surgery was the same type used in Insas rifles during the practice session".