New Delhi, May 24: The army has given the death sentence to a soldier for the second time in less than three months.

Sepoy Satyam Kumar of a northern command signals unit was sentenced to death by a summary general court martial for killing his superior, Havildar Padmarajan, on October 28. The court martial passed the sentence after a 15-day trial in Udhampur that ended on May 18.

A summary general court martial is conducted in a “field area” and must comprise at least three officers.

A general court martial requires five officers and is held in a peace station. “Sepoy Satyam Kumar was found guilty of murdering his own NCO,” a source told The Telegraph. The punishment has to be confirmed by the Union government on the recommendation of army headquarters.

Defence minister A.K. Antony is to take another deci-sion on a death sentence given to Sepoy S.C. Behera on February 26.

The court martial found that Kumar, on sentry duty near Udhampur in Jammu on October 28, pumped 20 bullets from his service weapon, an INSAS rifle, into Padmarajan after an argument. Kumar surrendered immediately.

The source could not give the motive for the murder, which followed the same pattern as the last case.

Court martials rarely seek to establish the motive and put it on record. They concern themselves more with evidence and witness accounts. Padmarajan’s murder was followed two days later by that of Lt Col Saket Saxena. Behera was given the death sentence on February 26 after a hearing for 26 days.

The two sentences indicate the direction army headquarters is taking in dealing with cases of “fragging” — slang for the murder of a superior by a soldier. The army officially uses the term “fratricide”.

As many as 24 officers and soldiers were killed in 17 incidents of “fragging” in 2006. Around 40 incidents were reported in the last four years.