Man kills six-year-old boy for ransom, says he ‘ogled’ at wife

A man allegedly killed a six-year-old boy in south Delhi’s Okhla for peeping at his wife while she bathed, police said on Friday when the crime came to light after the child’s rotting body was discovered.

Police have arrested the boy’s 19-year-old neighbour, Rohit Prasad, and are trying to determine if the motive of the murder was anything else. The victim’s family and other neighbours said the child was shy and would not do the things the suspect said.

Romil Baaniya, DCP (southeast), said Prasad also admitted to holding a grudge against the boy’s father. “Rohit said he murdered the boy also to avenge the scolding by his father. We are investigating if this was the primary motive,” said Baaniya.

“Rohit said that the boy used to peep through the hole in the bathroom wall as his wife would bathe and would pass lewd remarks at her. On Wednesday, he hit the child who started bleeding after his head struck the bed. Rohit panicked, tied the child’s mouth with a cloth and stuffed his body in his bed box,” the DCP added.

A resident of JJR Camp in Okhla Phase-2, Prasad married a year ago. “His wife moved in with him around four months ago and he was obsessed about his impression in front of her,” said Manwar Devi, a neighbour.

The boy lived with his parents and siblings in the same neighbourhood. His father is a smalltime contractor who provided work to Prasad’s mother and others in his family in the past.

The boy went missing around 4 pm on Wednesday. His relatives, neighbours and police searched for him but could not trace him. Neighbours said Prasad led some of the searches, ostensibly to avoid suspicion.

It was around 9.30 am on Friday that neighbours sensed a foul smell from a room owned by the suspect. His family owned three rooms and this one remained mostly unused.

“The stench appeared to be from the storage box of the bed in the room. We got it opened and a plastic sack immediately sprang out. The missing boy’s face and hand were popping out of the sack. His mouth was tied with a black cloth,” said Radha, a neighbour.

Prasad was missing initially and his phone switched off but police found him hiding under a bed on the terrace minutes later.