By IANS,
New Delhi: With the Chennai police probing the role of army men in the killing of a teenager at a military residential complex, Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh Wednesday promised action against those guilty – be it an officer, a soldier or any other individual – in the shooting episode.
Singh, however, maintained that it was not correct to hold the army as an institution responsible for the killing of 13-year-old Dilshan on Sunday.
“It is not right to say army is involved. Some individual is being suspected of involvement and an inquiry is going on at the moment. Whoever is involved, be it an officer or a soldier or anybody else, in the killing, action will taken against that individual,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a book-release function here.
He was asked to comment on allegations that the army was involved in the killing of the teenager.
The army chief also expressed “pain” at the loss of the teen’s life and conveyed his sympathies to the deceased’s family.
“We have said right from the beginning that we are sad and pained that the life of a young boy has been lost in this episode. Our sympathies are with the family of the deceased boy,” he added.
Dilshan, who had entered the army residential area near Island Grounds, a military landmark in the heart of Chennai, was found with a bullet wound in his head. He was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
His family and friends have alleged that an army personnel had killed him.
Meanwhile, the army Wednesday asked three of its men, who were present in the residential complex at the time of the killing, to report at the state police’s Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) wing for questioning.