A POLICEMAN IN India shot himself three times and claimed it was the work of six gunmen in order to get a bravery award, it is reported.

Mahesh Rajguru was on duty protecting a former politician in the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan when the incident occurred. He claimed that the assailants opened fire on him before speeding off in a getaway car, according to Yahoo News.

In his original statement Rajguru told how he had been hit three times in the hail of gunfire:

As soon as they spotted me, they started firing. A bullet hit my stomach. When I screamed, they ran outside and again opened fire while getting into a car parked outside. Two more bullets hit my shoulders.

But when police on the scene began to investigate, they quickly established that all was not quite what it seemed. “Senior officials rushed to the spot and found his statements and crime scene suspicious,” Additional Commissioner of Police Arun Macya told the Press Trust of India. “He confessed no such incident that he had narrated took place and he shot himself just to claim a gallantry award by showing bravery.”

Police said that all of the empty cartridges found at the scene matched the gun of Rajguru, who may well have been absent on the day ballistics were taught at the academy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, narcotics were also found in his home. He is currently recovering in hospital.