Srinagar, July 21: A police constable opened fire at a Srinagar temple today, killing a colleague and a civilian and critically injuring a senior officer.

The state police chief said the firing was “accidental” but sources in the force revealed the shooting was preceded by a heated exchange between the constable and a deputy superintendent of police.

The police were at the Dashnami Akhara temple to escort chief mahant Deepinder Giri to Pahalgam, the base camp for the Amarnath pilgrimage. Suddenly, the bhoomi pujan at the temple, a feature of the Amarnath yatra, was disrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire.

Within seconds, before the eyes of cowering mahants and devotees, the station house officer of the Maisuma police station and a driver of the State Road Transport Corporation bus lay dead.

A grievously wounded deputy superintendent, Ghulam Jeelani, was taken to hospital where he is battling for life.

Gopal Sharma, the state director-general of police, said the constable has been taken into custody and an inquiry has begun.

“There was a heated exchange of words before the shootout between the constable and deputy superintendent Jeelani,” a police source said.

A BSF contingent stationed nearby mistook the sound of gunfire at the temple for a militant attack and fired back, according to agency reports. The BSF jawans’ bullets killed the driver, unconfirmed reports said.

In north Kashmir, near Sopore town, a police constable committed suicide today.

Mohammad Amin of the state armed police turned his gun on himself while on guard duty at a branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Achabal village. The reason for the suicide is not known.