They reached the Police Guest House at around 11 pm. They crossed the wall of Gazetted Officers’ (GO) mess and inquired about the presence of the recently deployed police guard.
Inside the Police GO mess, the jawans beat up two Sewadars of the CO and took them away. They also entered the BRO mess where they caught hold of the Major whom Sewadar Sarkar was attached to. He was beaten up but he managed to escape. The jawans completely ransacked the BRO mess.
Throughout the night, jawans remained charged up and were raising slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and abusing their officers on loudspeakers. During the “search operation”, however, no civilian was attacked or civilian property damaged except the window panes of the Dak Bungalow.
At about 2 a.m, Brigade Commander, 70 Infantry Brigade, along with Commanding Officer, 17 Raj Rifles, reached Nyoma with reinforcements and cordoned off the camp location. In the morning, Brigade Commander of 3 Artillery Brigade reached Nyoma and went straight to the camp location to pacify the jawans. The jawans didn’t allow the senior officers to enter the camp. The jawans demanded to know whether Sewadar Sarkar was alive or not. They demanded access to Sarkar on telephone. Later GOC, 3 Inf Div Kharu, (General Officer Commanding, 3 Infantry Division) reached Nyoma and he along with other senior officers of the army went inside the camp and pacified the agitated jawans.
On May 11, a hectic search for six officers who went into hiding was conducted by the army. Three of them were traced near Nyoma. But the rest could not be traced till 3 pm. They were finally located in Loma, 25 km from Nyoma Police Station towards the Line of Actual Control.
The police is said to have played a major role in pacifying the situation, but no case was registered. Senior Superintendent of Police Leh, Vivek Gupta, said that the police had not registered any case. “The army has not approached us officially. The army has its own internal mechanism and maybe they are settling it internally,” he said.
Fallouts
The army had submitted a brief initial report about the incident to the defence ministry a day after the incident took place.
“An initial report about the incident has been submitted to Defense Ministry. Details about the entire episode would be provided only after the Court of Inquiry (CoI) instituted in the matter submits its findings,” army sources said.
Unhappy over the initial report, Defence Minister A K Antony has asked army to take immediate “corrective” steps to see that incidents like the clash between jawans and officers at a firing range near the India- China boundary in Nyoma, Ladakh do not recur.
The minister is understood to have expressed his displeasure to the army top brass over the initial report that is said to have attempted a cover up on the clash that has raised questions over discipline in an important unit of an artillery regiment.
Army sources said the officers and jawans involved in the clashes will now be attached to the CoI ordered by the superior headquarters and will face action. The CoI is being headed by a Brigadier-rank officer.
Sources in the army said Commanding Officer of 226 Field Regiment Colonel Kadam was relieved of his duties and the charge has been given to officiating colonel, Yatinder Nandal. Five other officers, who were also involved in the scuffle, have been attached to the 14 Corps headquarters. However, Army said no one has been “removed, dismissed or suspended”.
Sources said there was also a possibility of the unit being disbanded after the completion of the disciplinary proceedings into the case.
Incidentally, the 226 Field Regiment has had disciplinary problems in the past too. Following a series of anonymous letters, an inquiry had been ordered into allegations against the commanding officer of the same unit while it was deployed on the western frontier during Operation Parakram.
