The case of burning a 11-year-old boy alive in a military garrison in Hyderabad last month, on Monday, took a new turn when an Army jawan who was under the police scanner committed suicide early morning.
Appalaraju, a jawan in the Basant Brigade in Mehdipatnam Garrison, shot himself with his rifle. The suicide came after the Hyderabad city police summoned him for several rounds of questioning in connection with the murder of 11-year-old Mustafa.
Appalaraju’s body has been shifted to Army hospital in Secunderabad. The boy was burnt alive in the garrison on October 8 and he died in a hospital next day. In his dying declaration, the boy had told the magistrate that two army jawans had burnt him after pouring kerosene. But he could not name them.
The postmortem revealed that the boy was sexually assaulted before he was burnt alive. The police took up the investigation by constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which questioned many suspects.
Meanwhile, Appalaraju’s wife Anusuya alleged that the civil police and the Army authorities are responsible for his suicide. “Since October 15, he was detained by the police many times and was harassed as the police are holding him responsible for the death of Mustafa,” she told the media
Appalaraju was summoned for questioning on Sunday and was released late in the night. After coming back from the police station he shot himself, his wife said.