Eleven-year-old Sanjay shudders recalling the gunshot that felled his friend Dilshan inside the Army officers’ quarters near the Island Ground on Sunday. His version, explained to this newspaper even as his father Rajesekar, a coolie, kept comforting him against breaking down, left no doubt that it was indeed a bullet that killed the boy,
notwithstanding the local Army headquarters’ theory that none of its men at those quarters had a weapon on the fateful day.
“We used to go there often to pick baadaam that would drop in dozens from the trees in the complex. On Sunday, shortly after 1 pm, we went for our fruits and nuts. Dilshan got into the compound to collect the fruit while I stood on the wall to receive them and pass on to Praveen Kumar waiting outside on the pavement,” recalled the skinny kid, wiping his tears now and then. He said a white Ambassador car driving past stopped at the wall and someone from inside abused them. “There were four men in the car and they scolded us in Tamil. The car drove away towards war memorial and we continued our fruit hunt,” said Sanjay, who is studying in Class 7 in a local school. He said within five minutes, there was a gunshot from inside the quarters.