A CRPF jawan who was depressed shot dead his colleague before shooting himself at a Covid-19 isolation centre in Simaria block in Chatra district of Jharkhand, police said on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as constable Kalu Ram Gurjar of Rajasthan and cook Ravindra Kumar Singh of Haryana, both of the 190 CRPF battalion. Sources said the incident took place at around 12.30pm during lunch.

“The jawans in their 30s were in the same room. Prima facie it appears that Kalu Ram Gurjar tried to end his life using his SLR. When Ravindra Kumar Singh attempted to thwart his bid, Gurjar fired at him and then shot himself dead. Gurjar, who had rejoined recently after leave, was facing some family issues and was mentally depressed and had posted about it on Facebook. However, we are probing the case for more details,” said Chatra superintendent of police Rishabh Jha, who ruled out work-related pressure as the motive.