Lt Col, two others quizzed on shooting of Dilshan

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A Lt Colonel and two other army personnel are being questioned in connection with the shooting of 13-year-old Dilshan but police are yet to make a breakthrough.

Two days after Dilshan succumbed to gunshot wounds in army residential premises here, a top police official said: "We are verifying some of the leads. But there is no breakthrough yet."

In Delhi, army sources said an Lt Colonel, a jawan and a civilian guard were made available to the CB-CID in Chennai for questioning. They have not been detained, the sources said.

On its part, the CB-CID Additional DGP R. Sekar avoided a direct reply about the questioning of the Lt Colonel but said the probe was still on and no conclusion could be drawn now.

The Police also said that they are making a list of people who could have shot dead a 13-year-old boy inside the army campus.

"We are listing out the suspects and the list will be given to the army. We are looking at all the angles and are yet to get a clinching evidence," R. Sekar said.

" We are yet to get the ballistic test report to ascertain the kind of weapon that was used," he added.

Asked if the state police were planning to seek the nod from army headquarters to question some officers here, he said army officers in Chennai were extending ‘full assistance’ in the probe.

An army statement said all its personnel in the vicinity of the spot of Sunday's incident and the civilian security guard on duty in the compound, who could throw any light on the incident, have been made available for joint investigations (by military police and CB-CID police).

Army authorities were providing 'full assistance' to CB-CID, which is probing the death of Dilshan due to bullet injury when he trespassed into the Army residential quarters to pluck almonds, the statement said.

"The GOC (Chennai Area) has re-affirmed that no guilty person will be shielded," it said.

Dilshan, residing in the Indira Gandhi Nagar locality adjacent to the army quarters in the Island Grounds locality, fell victim to a mysterious bullet, triggering protests from the locals.

The boy's family has alleged he was shot by army personnel. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had also said the teenager was killed by an army jawan and had written to the GOC requesting that the culprit be handed over to the state police.