Strong action will be taken if anybody found guilty: Army Chief

With some army personnel coming under the scanner over the killing of a 13-year-old boy in Chennai, Army Chief General VK Singh today promised strong action against anybody found guilty but said the entire force should not be defamed if any individual is suspected.

With some army personnel coming under scanner over the killing of a 13-year-old boy in Chennai, Army Chief General VK Singh on Wednesday promised strong action against anybody found guilty but said the entire force should not be defamed if any individual is suspected.

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"Whoever has committed any mistake in the incident - be it an officer or a jawan -, strong action will be taken against him," Singh told reporters here while talking about the incident in which a teenaged boy Dilshan was killed inside St George cantonment on Sunday.

A Lt Colonel and a jawan have been questioned by Crime Branch-CID in connection with the incident.

However, no one has been arrested so far.

On suspicion that boy could have been killed by the Lt Colonel, Singh said, "It is wrong to say that army is involved in this. It is a matter of someone raising doubt on an individual."

"We have always said that the incident is regrettable and we have sympathy with the aggrieved family," said Singh.

An army statement on Tuesday said all its personnel in vicinity of the spot where the incident took place 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 the CB-CID police.

The Army Chief was interacting with reporters on sidelines of a book-launch function in Chennai.