Ex-army officer gets life term for killing Chennai boy

April 20, 2012

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.

7 Karnataka labourers killed, 4 injured in road accident in Telangana

News Network

March 28,2020

Hyderabad, Mar 28: Seven labourers from Karnataka were killed and four injured when the van in which they were travelling was hit by a truck near Pedda Golconda on the outskirts of the city late on Friday night, police said.

The deceased included two children. Of the 31 workers in the van, five died on the spot and two while undergoing treatment at a hospital, Assistant Commissioner of Traffic Vishwa Prasad said.
Four others were hospitalised and the condition of one of them is critical, he said, adding the other workers in the van escaped with minor injuries.

The workers were on their way back to their home town Raichur in Karnataka as the road project they were working in at Suryapet here was stalled due to the lockdown, Prasad said.

He said initital investigations revealed that the mango laden truck, which was on its way to Gujarat, was overspeeding.

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.

Massive fire engulfs Delhi slum, 250 shanties gutted

Agencies

May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: A massive fire broke out on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the slums of the Tughlaqabad area in south east Delhi in which over 250 shanties were gutted, however, no one was injured, fire officials said.

Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, told IANS, "We came to know about the fire in the slums around 12.15 a.m. following which 28 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. And the fire was brought under control by 4 a.m."

He said, the Tughalaqbad slums have over 500 shanties, out of which over 250 have been destroyed in the fire.

He said, it took time for the fire tenders to reach the spot as it was on the hills, but the fire was doused within four hours and by 8 a.m. cooling off procedure has also been completed.

When asked if there is any casualty in the incident, he said, "No injury or casualty has been reported."

He also said that as of now the actual reason for the fire is not known. "But we are trying to find out the reason of the fire," Garg added.

South East Deputy Commissioner of Police R.P. Meena said, "In the night it seemed that almost 500 shanties were gutted. However, in the morning it became clear that only 250 shanties have been gutted in fire."

He said, the South East district police after receiving the call also rushed the ambulances and the local police team in the area for rescue operation. Meena further said that very few people were residing in the shanties, and the people came out of their shanties after the fire broke out in one of them.

Comments