DUSHANBE, July 18, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik authorities say they are ruling out the involvement of a distant relative of President Emomali Rahmon in a deadly, high-profile traffic accident, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

In October, three people were killed and four seriously injured by a nighttime crash in Dushanbe.

Original reports said that Rasoul Amonullo, a 16-year-old son of then the chief of the Tajik Railways Company Amonullo Hukumatullo, bore responsibility for the crash -- which happened when two cars were trying to race each other on the city streets.

Tajikistan''s Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda told reporters on July 18 that preliminary investigations and numerous forensic tests have “proven Rasoul Amonullo''s innocence.”

Amonullo disappeared from Tajikistan on the wake of the scandal and later was reported to be in Germany “receiving treatment after the crash.”

The reports caused a public outcry.  Investigators later claimed Amonullo was only a passenger.

In January, President Rahmon sent Hukumatullo to retirement.