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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Dilson murder case: Retired Army officer detained in Chennai

The CB-CID investigation into the killing of the 13 year old boy Dilshan inside an army residential complex in Chennai on July 3 was cracked in exactly a week's time.

A 50-year-old retired army officer was arrested on Sunday (10-July-2011) for the crime after he confessed that he was irritated by the boy's trespassing, police said.

After the retired Lieutenant Colonel confessed today to killing the 13-year-old inside an Army residential compound in Chennai, the Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigating Department (CB-CID) of the Tamil Nadu Police has said they will now seek capital punishment for the ex-Army man.

The retired Lt Colonel, Kandasamy Ramaraj, has been remanded to 15 days judicial custody, after he was produced in a court this evening.

"We are happy with the arrest of Ramaraj. Ramaraj should be given punishment the way my son has died. He should feel the same pain as my son did. There is nothing to blame anyone, entire nation has struggled for my son, including the police department, press and television media, lawyers, doctors, college students and chief minister Jayalalithaa," Dilshan's mother Kalaivani said.

"I want to thank everyone including political parties who have struggled to bring justice for my son," she added.

CB-CID chief Mr R Sekhar said that though initially police came to know there were only three children at the time of incident it later came to light that there was a fourth boy who informed them about a senior Army man who tried to erase the evidence.

With the help of fourth boy, police could zero in on Ramraj who initially refused to admit that he owned a licensed weapon but later confessed that he had applied for renewal of license with the suburban police, he said.

Dilshan, a Chennai teenager, was killed by a bullet while picking almonds, with his friends, inside the Island Grounds Army Residential complex in Chennai.

After having narrowed down the list of suspects to just two, a serving officer and Ramaraj, the police conducted intensive interrogation. Confronted with discrepancies in his version of the events, Ramaraj, the police said, confessed to having killed the boy and thrown the weapon in the Cooum river near the Napier bridge. After intensive searches, the police recovered the 0.3 mm rifle.

“It is an imported and licensed weapon. Enquiries revealed that the retired Army officer opened fire using the rifle on Dilson after he was seen throwing stones on a tree…he lives in a residential block located close to the scene of firing,” a senior police official said. Ramaraj had retired in April 2011 from the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

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