Accused of being a thief, boy beaten to death by neighbours

Police said two men arrested for the crime claimed they caught the boy stealing from their house, after which all six beat him up

NEWDELHI: A 16-year-old boy from Kanpur who came to Delhi in search of a job 10 days ago was allegedly beaten to death in northwest Delhi’s Mukundpur during the early hours of Tuesday by at least six men from his neighbourhood who claim he was a thief .

The police said two men arrested for the crime claimed they caught the boy stealing from their house, after which all six beat him up. The four other men are absconding.

Officers said the teenager is from Arariya in Bihar, was studying at a madrasa in Kanpur, and then came to Delhi. Soon after, he became an electrician’s apprentice; he was staying with his elder brother, Mushahid, and two of his uncles.

The police said that around 6.30 am, they received a PCR call reporting that residents of a house in lane number 6, Mukundpur, had caught a thief. “When a police team from Bhalswa Dairy police station reached the spot, they found a boy lying unconscious near a drain. After questioning, the police detained two men, Rajkumar, an autorickshaw driver, and his brother Nand Kishore, a factory worker, on suspicion of having beaten the boy. Their third brother, Triveni, and three cousins are absconding,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

The boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police registered a case of attempted theft and trespass against the teenager and two other, unidentified, suspects.

A juvenile accused of a crime cannot be identified, which is why the boy isn’t being named. They have also registered a case of culpable homicide against the men.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest), Aslam Khan, said the two arrested men told the police that they caught the boy at 3.30 am, but that the police were called at 6.30 am. “We are finding out what these men did with the boy in those three hours.

The men who have been held have alleged that the boy entered their house to steal valuables and money. One of the phones belonging to one of the men was found in the boy’s pocket.

We have registered a case under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the men,” the DCP said, pointing to this discrepancy between the time the boy was caught and the police called.

One of the residents, who recognised the boy, informed his elder brother, Mushahid, about the death. “When I reached the

spot, he was already dead. Last I saw him was the previous night when he went to the terrace to watch a movie on his phone. He was wearing a black vest. When he was found dead, he was wearing a white vest. He also had cut marks on his body and rashes on his hands and legs, which suggest that he was tied and beaten,” claimed Mushahid, who works as a plumber.

DCP Khan said that the police will also probe if evidence was tampered with. “The initial probe suggests that the accused might have dressed the crime scene. We are interrogating them. The hunt for the other four accused is also underway. There were slight injury marks on the victim’s hands and legs. His autopsy reports are awaited to ascertain the details of the injuries,” she said.

Mushahid said that neither he nor his uncles heard any sound in the night.

“If my brother sneaked into some house, our neighbours would have raised an alarm. We did not even hear him crying for help. He was dragged, tied and beaten to death,” he alleged.

Rita Devi, a 32-year-old woman who lives in the neighbourhood and was one of the locals who spotted the teenager’s body early on Tuesday, said that they did not hear any ruckus in the night.

“If there was a thief in a house, usually people raise alarm or call police. Nothing of that sort happened in the night.”