Teen dies after shooting himself in head while taking selfie with dad's pistol

An Indian teenager has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while posing for a selfie with his father’s gun.

Ramandeep Singh, 15, was posing for a photograph with his elder sister on Friday night when he pulled the gun’s trigger instead of clicking the photograph.

He was taken to a private hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab after neighbours heard the gunshot and alerted his parents, who were not home at the time. He succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

The gun, a .32-calibre pistol licensed to Ramandeep’s father Gurkirpal Singh, was usually kept in a wardrobe in the house, according to police chief Manoj Kumar.

"The boy's father and family said that he was trying to take a selfie with his gun," said Mr Kumar. 

The incident is the latest of several deaths in India to result from taking a selfie, a craze that has been fuelled by Bollywood celebrities and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

Around half of the 27 recorded deaths worldwide resulting from self-taken photographs took place in India last year.

So far this year, a man in Kerala was gored by an irate elephant while posing for a selfie at a temple in April, and a teenager in Chennai was killed by a train after posing near railway tracks.