A police team arrives at the Alipore Bodyguard Lines. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, June 28: A constable of Calcutta armed police fired from his rifle in a room near the chambers of senior IPS officers at the Alipore Bodyguard Lines tonight, riddling the ceiling .

Milan Kanti Singha, in his mid-30s, pulled the trigger four times without warning.

Although senior officials said the reason behind Singha’s surprise burst of anger was yet to be ascertained, some policemen posted at the armed police headquarters said the constable, who is from Mohammadbazar in Birbhum, may have lost his temper because his superiors had turned down his leave application.

“It appears that Singha was going through some problems in his personal life, which might have triggered the incident,” additional commissioner Subrata Narayan Sarkar said.

No one was injured, but Singha’s panic-stricken colleagues did not dare go near him. It took an hour of talking — from a distance — to calm him down. He was taken to another room and kept under close watch by a dozen armed policemen.

The incident took place immediately after Singha had joined his night shift around 8.

“He was posted on the first floor where the office of the deputy commissioner of police of the seventh battalion, Kalyan Roy, is located. Singha was asked to guard the cash room,” Sarkar said.

Singha, who joined the police in 1997, had been posted at the Bodyguard Lines for the past two years.

“After taking the rifle from the armoury, Singha loaded it with five cartridges,” Sarkar said.

According to other witnesses, he aimed the nozzle of his .303 rifle at the ceiling. Before they realised what was going on, Singha had fired the first shot. Within seconds, he had pulled the trigger again, sending his colleagues scurrying for cover.

“We heard the sound of two more shots. Sensing trouble, we came to the ground floor. None of us dared go upstairs because we had no idea about Singha’s mental state,” a constable said.