Also dismissed from service

A soldier who shot dead his four colleagues at the high-security Bathinda military station on April 12, 2023, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a military general court martial. He has also been dismissed from the service.
Convict Desai Mohan and victims Sagar Banne, Kamlesh R Santosh, Nagaral and Yogesh Kumar J were from the 80 Medium Regiment of artillery.
Desai Mohan killed his four colleagues while they were asleep. Following the incident, all entry and exit points of the cantonment were sealed and a search operation was launched to nab the accused. A joint investigation into the incident was initiated by the military and the police.
The Bathinda police found 19 cartridges at the site of the incident. Desai Mohan was found guilty not only of murder but also of stealing weapons and ammunition.
The general court martial, led by Colonel S Duseja, has been hearing the case since January. Under the Army Act, 1925, the military took over the case, removing it from the civil court’s purview. Now, Desai Mohan has been sentenced to life imprisonment and dismissed from the job.
The findings and the sentence announced by the GCM on Saturday are subject to vetting by the higher Army authorities, sources said.
The jawan was represented by two advocates, Rajesh Sharma and Navjinder Singh, at the court martial, while the prosecution was represented by Brig NK Ohri (Retd).
During the investigation, Desai told the police that he was being regularly sodomised and abused by those four soldiers. Ashamed and humiliated, he drew a rifle and shot them dead.