15-year-old beaten to death in Modi Nagar

He was then tied to a pilkhan tree at the house of Saleem, one of the suspects, and allegedly beaten up.

“Upon hearing the boy’s cries, his father, mother and younger brother rushed to his rescue. But they were held at gunpoint by the six. Later, they untied Zeeshan and took him to the house of another suspect, Irfan. There, they bound him to a pole and mutilated him with a knife and an ice pick,” said Ishtikhar, the victim’s uncle.

According to Ishtikhar, nobody from the village dared stand up to the assailants. “They continued torturing him till 3am. The police arrived at the scene only after the boy had died,” he said.

An FIR was lodged at the Bhojpur police station against Saleem, Nadeem, Waseem, Irfan, Naushad and Mustaqim for rioting, criminal intimidation and murder with common intention on Monday. Saleem, Nadeem and Waseem are brothers.

Gulshan, Zeeshan’s mother, said the six didn’t even let her give the boy any water to drink while he was being beaten up. “Instead, they locked me in my house. That was too much for my ailing husband — Shoukeen — to take, and he lost consciousness. Later, they threw his body in front of our house and told us to pick it up,” she added.

Police could not confirm the motive behind the murder. “The suspects probably thought the victim was going to meet a girl from their family, or actually saw him with her. We can’t rule out that possibility, but things will become clear once the suspects are arrested,” said Ghaziabad superintendent of police (rural) Rakesh Kumar Pandey.

The victim’s family denied the relationship angle. “This is the third time Zeeshan was attacked. When he was still a child, the same men had beaten up his father. When they again assaulted Shoukeen about a year ago, Zeeshan managed to hold them back. In retaliation, the six targeted Zeeshan in the fields a few months back,” Ishtikhar said.

He also alleged that the police were asking the victim’s relatives to reveal the suspects’ whereabouts instead of searching for them.

Zeeshan was the third of Gulshan and Shoukeen’s ten children.