Retd Army officer gets life term for killing 13-year-old

A fast track court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to retired Army officer Lt Col Ramraj for the  killing of a 13-year-old boy in July last year in Chennai.

The incident took place at the Island Grounds Army Residential complex in Chennai in July last year, when 13-year-old Dilshan was shot dead while he was plucking almonds from a tree in the compound. It was alleged that a retired Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Kandasamy Ramaraj, had shot the boy.

The defence lawyer, however, maintained that the retired Lieutenant Colonel has been framed in the case and that he had no intention or motive to kill the boy.

The accused, Lieutenant Colonel Ramaraj, 58, was an Assistant Engineer in the Arms Section of the Electrical Mechanical Department. He has been charged with murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had ordered an investigation by the the Crime Branch.

Due to lack of eye-witnesses, it was very difficult for the police to find out who was responsible for the murder. But after they recovered the weapon that was used for the murder in the Cooum river, the investigation proceeded smoothly.

A post-mortem confirmed the teenager died from a bullet injury to the head. According to NDTV reports , the ballistic report said the shrapnel found from Dilshan’s body and the injury matched the ammunition used to fire from the weapon recovered.