Expedite probe into boy's murder: MIM

• With the SIT chief's transfer, there is less clarity on the successor
• Army is accountable because the incident happened in their area: Asaduddin

Hyderabad: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has demanded city police to expedite its investigations into the torching of an 11-year-old boy to death at Mehdipatnam Garrison.

The Hyderabad MP said the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed by the city police, should bring the culprit to book and “justice cannot be done by merely paying compensation to the family members of the boy”. He said SIT should speed up the probe, make its findings transparent as to who was responsible for the heinous crime.

Referring to the suicide by an army jawan, who was being grilled by the SIT in this case, Owaisi said the reasons for the jawan's suicide were not known.

“Nobody is above the law and if the army men are involved they should be immediately sent to jail. We respect Indian Army, but in this case the Army is accountable because this incident happened in their area,” said Owaisi while addressing a public meeting at First Lancer in Banjara Hills on Monday night in memory of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.

Appala Raju, 32, who is said to be prime suspect and one of the 70 people questioned by SIT in the boy's murder, allegedly committed suicide on Monday by shooting himself with his service rifle in the garrison.

Army authorities said the jawan was probably under mental stress due to interrogation.

Sheikh Mustafa, a student of a Madarsa and resident of Siddiq Nagar abutting the military area, was found with 92 per cent burn injuries in the garrison on October 8.

He told a magistrate in his dying declaration that some army men poured kerosene on him and set him ablaze. He succumbed at a hospital the next day.

A five-member SIT headed by DCP (East) Shahnawaz Qasim was constituted on October 13 to probe the incident and now with the SIT chief's transfer to Khammam, there is less clarity on who would take over from the outgoing DCP.