Teen boy murders friend in Pratapgarh

ALLAHABAD: In a shocking incident, a 14-year-old boy murdered his classmate, who was the son of his school manager, after the manager allegedly demanded a hefty bribe from him for releasing transfer certificates (TC) of his two siblings in Patti area of Pratapgarh.

The villagers caught the boy while he was washing his blood stained hands in a paddy field on July 23 but he managed to mislead cops before confessing to his crime on Friday.

One Bankelal Patel of Patti is the manager of Jaipali Patel Laghu Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Ramaipur Dashini. On July 23, Bankelal’s son Suraj, 14, went for his tuition classes at the same school in the evening.

Later in the evening, some villagers spotted Suraj’s body lying at a deserted place while his ‘friend’ was found washing his blood stained hands in a nearby field. But the boy misled the villagers claiming that some unidentified persons had attacked Suraj.

Suraj’s friend finally confessed to his crime when cops grilled him with all evidence. Earlier, police even rounded up some persons to cross check his claims. The deceased boy’s father had lodged an FIR in this connection.

The juvenile delinquent told cops that Suraj’s father Bankelal was allegedly demanding Rs 27,000 in return of transfer certificates of his younger brother and sister.

Besides, the accused was also jealous of Suraj as he was good in studies, ASP (East) Rajkumar Agarwal said.

The accused took Suraj to a deserted spot and attacked him on his head with a stick. He later bludgeoned him to death. He was sent to juvenile home, the ASP added.