Ex-army officer gets life term for killing Chennai boy

April 20, 2012
chennai-dilshan

Chennai, April 20: Retired army officer K. Ramaraj was sentenced to life imprisonment by a fast track court here Friday for last year's killing of a 13-year-old boy who had entered his residential premises to pick almonds.

The court also levied a fine of Rs.60,000 on Lt. Col. (retd) Ramaraj, 50, of which Rs.50,000 has to be given to the family of the victim, K. Dilshan, said a prosecution lawyer.

The judge also found Ramaraj guilty under two sections of the Arms Act and awarded him prison terms of three years and one year each, besides a fine of Rs.10,000.

All the sentences would run concurrently.The shooting of the boy for trespassing raised a nationwide uproar, with people demanding exemplary punishment for the killer.


Reacting to the judgment, Dilshan's mother K. Kalaivani told reporters assembled at the court: "I am happy. It is a good judgment. This will be a lesson to everybody. Such incidents should not happen to anyone, anywhere in the world."

A prosecution lawyer told reporters that the hearing by the court began in September and ended April 11. Around 55 witnesses were examined by the court. The police had submitted 45 exhibits and 13 material objects, besides the murder weapon.

Tamil Nadu Police cracked the case within a week of the killing of the boy.

According to police, Ramaraj was irritated by the boy trespassing into residential premises housing retired and serving army officials to pick up almond nuts.


Police had charged that Dilshan was shot by Ramaraj from the balcony of his residence July 3 afternoon when the boy and his friends residing nearby entered the residential campus to pluck almonds.

Dilshan was fatally wounded and succumbed to injuries in a hospital. Ramaraj has three sons serving in the army.

The murder investigation was taken over by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID). Police had initially suspected some other official but later ruled out his involvement and zeroed in on Ramaraj.

According to police, Ramaraj, who retired from service last year, had acquired a 0.30 calibre Springfield rifle in 2004 when he was posted in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The gun licence had expired and Ramaraj had applied for licence renewal.

The army officers here were not aware that Ramaraj was in possession of a rifle. Ramaraj had later thrown the rifle in Cooum river here. It was recovered by police.

According to the CB-CID, extensive searches were carried out at the place of shooting and a bullet component was recovered and sent for ballistic tests to ascertain the type of weapon used.

Initially, it was thought that three boys, including Dilshan, had entered the campus. But the investigation established the presence of a fourth boy, who gave information about the probable involvement of Ramaraj in the shooting.Twelve probe teams were constituted to crack the case.


Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 28,2020

Nagpur, Jan 28: A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped and an iron rod was inserted in her private parts by a man in the Pardi area here, police said on Monday.

The gruesome incident took place on January 21 and the accused, Yogilal Rahangdale (52), was arrested from Gondia district, they said.

The accused was working as a supervisor in a spinning mill where the woman was employed as a labourer, the police said.

The woman, her brother, the accused and another girl lived in rented accommodations in Pardi.

Inspector Sunil Chavan of the Pardi police station said that the woman's brother and her female friend had gone to their village on January 21 for some work.

As the woman was alone at home, Rahangdale attempted to rape her in the night. When she resisted, he stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth, he said.

When she fell unconscious, the accused raped her and inserted an iron rod in her private parts, Chavan said, quoting from the complaint filed by the victim.

She narrated the incident to her brother on January 24 and they subsequently lodged a complaint with the police.

An offence was registered against the accused at the Pardi police station.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 16,2020

Cuttack, Jan 16: At least 15 passengers were injured as five coaches of the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed and three more were displaced after colliding with a goods train amid heavy fog near Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday, railway officials said.

Railway officials had earlier said that 25 passengers were injured in the incident but later officers who reached the site reported that four passengers were found to have suffered major injuries and 11 had received minor injuries.

Passengers with major injuries have been sent to Cuttack Medical College. All passengers are stated to be out of danger.

Officials said the accident happened when the passenger train hit the guard van of a good train around 7 am between Salagaon and Nergundi stations.

The officials said there was heavy fog at the site but it was not clear what led to the accident. The speedometer of both the trains have been seized for inquiry, East Coast Railway Spokesperson J P Mishra said.

Buses have been arranged for all remaining passengers to move towards their destination.

Cuttack is around 10-12 km away and Bhubaneswar(Terminating station) is 35 km.

The accident disrupted train services in the area.

Five trains have been affected due to the accident where restoration work in underway. These include the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai LTT SF Express, the Puri-Rourkela Express, Dhanbad-Bhubaneshwar Rajyarani Express which have all been diverted via Naraj.

"East Coast Railway acknowledges with deep gratitude help of nearby locals and villagers who have displayed great humanitarian values and come to the rescue of injured passengers," Mishra said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 5,2020

Nagpur, Apr 5: A 23-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in Imambada area in Nagpur on Saturday due to financial distress, police said.

Nikhil Gavhane, who worked in a grocery shop, hanged himself as he had taken money from a person and was stressed over repayment, an official said.

"He was depressed since a week," the Imambada police station official said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.