2 HELD FOR KILLING 7-YEAR-OLD

Accused also negotiated the ransom when victim’s father told that he was very poor

GREATER NOIDA: Police arrested a man and his fatherin-law in connection with the murder of a 7-year-old boy who was found dead inside a farm in Khodna Khurd village in Surajpur area of Greater Noida in the early hours of September 9.

According to police, the arrested accused have been identified as Manish Kumar (28) and his father-in-law, Jai Nandan (48). Police said that the accused strangled the kid to death during a kidnapping bid.

Seven-year-old Sundar Lal, a class 3 student of a government school, had gone missing on the afternoon of September 6. The victim’s father, Suraj Dev, in his complaint alleged that on Sunday he came back from school at around 1.30 pm and had gone out to play and went missing.

Police launched an investigation in the matter and following the ransom calls which were made to the victim’s father, police managed to trace the accused.

“The victim’s family informed us about the ransom calls which were made to them and the kidnappers demanded Rs 50,000 from them. We traced the mobile numbers and successfully managed to nab Manish who told police that he along with his father-in-law lured the boy with sweets and took him to a secluded place where they strangled him when he tried to resist the kidnapping attempt,” said Ashok Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (crime), Noida.

Police officials said that they told the police that they had decided to kidnap the boy in order to earn some quick money through his ransom. They also negotiated the ransom money when the victim’s father told them that he is very poor.

They took the boy to an isolated spot and while they were trying to tie to boy he started resisting. Scared, that he might shout, the accused tried to restrain him and after a while Jai strangled him in anger, said police.

“The accused killed the boy on the day he was kidnapped. However, the accused still thought they could earn the money and thus, called his father for a ransom on September 8. The two are the victim’s neighbours and are tenants in the same house as the victim’s family. They both work as daily wage labourers,” Singh added.

The accused were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.