Mandya, 17 FEB  

A four-year-old boy has died and his mother sustained severe injuries after a 15-year-old boy accidently fired a loaded gun while he was playing with the firearm at Nagamangala taluk of this district, police said on Monday.

The deceased is identified as Abhijeet, a child of migrant labourers from West Bengal, they said.

The incident occurred around 5.45 pm on Sunday, in a poultry farm where the family has been employed, police said.

The 15-year-old boy came to the small house in the poultry farm and noticed the Single Barrel Breech Loading (SBBL) firearm hanging on the wall. He took the weapon and started playing with it and accidently the boy discharged the weapon, hitting the four-year-old child in the abdomen and injuring his 30-year-old mother on her leg. According to police, Lipika and her husband Shashank, who are migrant labourers from West Bengal working at a poultry farm belong to Congress leader Narasimhamurthy of the village from several years.

The injured were immediately taken to a hospital where the four-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries due to excessive blood loss. His mother is stated to be out of danger and undergoing treatment, a senior police officer said.