Bhubaneswar: Brandishing a gun in different poses to make a reel in an inebriated state proved fatal for the personal security officer (PSO) of Sonepur MLA Niranjan Pujari and his cousin at Chulimal on Tuesday evening, preliminary police investigation has revealed.
Preliminary probe suggests Seshadev Jhankar (32) accidentally fired on his head using his cousin Manoj Jhankar’s service revolver while making a reel.Shocked over the incident, Manoj, who was PSO of Pujari, put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Both died on the spot, police said.
In the case of Seshadev, the bullet exited through the left temple, while in Manoj’s case, it pierced his right occipital lobe and exited through the right temple, police said. Police said it reconstructed the events after taking statements of eyewitnesses, a herder and some villagers who saw the drunk duo fiddling with the revolver. “We have recorded statements of multiple people which suggested that Manoj and Seshadev drank alcohol at a dhaba. Then they arrived with more alcohol in the field where they drank some more. People saw them exchanging the gun and making poses with the weapon to record a reel,” said a police officer.
However, police haven’t found any recordings in their mobile phones that were seized from the spot. “They probably were preparing to shoot a reel,” the officer added.Police found two empty cartridges from the spot. Two live cartridges were present in the service revolver, which have been seized for ballistic examination.
Police said the incident took place at around 5.45 pm when there was still natural light and many villagers saw them in an inebriated state.
A bottle was found at the spot which had alcohol. “The post-mortem report is yet to come. It is likely to reveal more details,” said Himanshu Lal, IG, northern range.

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