BAGHPAT — A 26-year-old cavalry soldier serving with the elite President’s Bodyguard at Rashtrapati Bhavan is battling for his life in an intensive care unit after an altercation over bursting Diwali firecrackers escalated into gunfire in western Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district.
Saurabh Tomar was on holiday. He had returned to his ancestral village on official leave to celebrate the festival with his family, stepping away from ceremonial duties with the Indian Army’s senior-most cavalry regiment. By midnight, he was on an operating table. The bullet had torn into his skull just behind the ear.
Saurabh stepped into the street outside his family residence alongside his two brothers, Vineet and Mintu, to set off festive crackers. Words flared almost immediately. Two fellow villagers—identified by investigators as Dheeraj and his brother Monu alias Praveen—confronted the siblings over the smoke and noise.
A bitter argument turned physical within minutes.
Dheeraj allegedly pulled out an illicit, single-shot country-made pistol and squeezed the trigger. The round struck a nearby masonry wall, ricocheted, and slammed directly into the back of Saurabh’s head. The soldier crumpled to the pavement instantly.
Violence quickly spiraled out of control. Monu allegedly charged into the melee swinging a wooden staff, striking Vineet across the torso. Mintu retaliated with sticks, wounding Monu in the scramble. Terrified neighbors scrambled behind locked doors as the crack of the gunshot echoed down the alleyway. Both attackers fled the village under cover of darkness.
The accused and the complainant's family were known to each other and had maintained cordial relations, though an altercation broke out between them approximately two months ago.
Investigating Officer, Baghpat District Police
The two sides were not strangers. Villagers described them as longtime acquaintances who routinely socialized together until a dispute flared between them two months earlier, leaving simmering hostility that boiled over on festival night.
Family members loaded the bleeding soldier into a private vehicle and raced him to the Community Health Centre in nearby Baraut. Doctors stabilized his vitals before referring him to the state-run Meerut Medical College. Anxious relatives chose instead to transfer him to a specialized private hospital in Meerut for neurosurgical intervention.
Surgeons opened his skull and successfully extracted the lodged bullet. He remains in critical condition in the intensive care unit on advanced respiratory support.
Back in Baghpat, the soldier’s father, Janak Raj, dialed emergency responders to report the shooting. Senior commanders, including the Circle Officer of Baraut and the Additional Superintendent of Police, cordoned off the alleyway and gathered forensic remnants from the impact site.
Based on a formal complaint filed by Janak Raj, investigators registered a First Information Report naming Dheeraj and Monu alias Praveen as primary accused. Multiple operational squads are conducting raids across hideouts in Baghpat, Meerut, and neighboring districts to locate the fleeing brothers.
| Case Parameter | Investigation Status |
|---|---|
| Victim | Saurabh Tomar, 26 (Jawan, President's Bodyguard, Rashtrapati Bhavan) |
| Primary Accused | Dheeraj and Monu alias Praveen (Both absconding) |
| Weapon Used | Country-made firearm (Illegal pistol) |
| Medical Status | Critical in ICU (Bullet extracted at Meerut private hospital) |
| Police Action | FIR registered; search operations initiated across western UP |
Police teams continue surveillance on railway terminals, bus stands, and known associate hideouts, with district magistrates preparing non-bailable arrest warrants if the suspects fail to surrender within 48 hours.