Jammu: More than a dozen officers and troopers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are likely to be dismissed from service for their "cowardly" role in not apprehending a colleague who killed three troopers at the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister's official residence earlier this month.

"A court of inquiry has been completed and action would be taken soon against these officers and men whose conduct was most unbecoming in the situation," sources in the CRPF said.

On the evening of April 3, CRPF trooper Anand Kumar Singh went berserk and gunned down three of his colleagues at Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence. He then managed to flee from the spot, manned by scores of CRPF men, and surrendered at a police station half a kilometre away.

Singh, who also gave up his service weapon, is now in jail and has apparently shown no remorse over his action, said an officer. His escape as well as the failure of any of the 100-odd CRPF men deployed on security duty to capture him has been viewed as cowardly.

"They were supposed to act and react and overpower this man. They didn't do that," said a senior CRPF officer.

The state government has also instituted an inquiry into the passive role of the state police and that of the special security wing of the chief minister.

Sources close to the chief minister said action would be taken against some of the policemen as well, depending on what the report says.