Youth kills brother after father threatens to disown him

LUCKNOW : In a brutal incident, a 22-year-old youth killed his seven-year-old brother out of fear of being disowned by his father and also scolded over being unemployed, here in Madiaon area.

The minor boy’s body was found floating in a pit filled with water at some distance away from his house in Madiaon’s Faizullaganj locality on Wednesday. Police arrested the youth on Thursday after finding substantial evidence against him during detailed investigation.

The victim Yashu Singh, who was class 2 student of a private school, had gone missing when he was playing near his house on Tuesday night. His father Vijendra Singh, who works in a dairy farm in Lucknow, had lodged an FIR of his disappearance with Madiaon police after searching for him for multiple hours. The boy’s body was later found in a pit in Yaseenbagh locality near his house on Wednesday morning.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani said the police investigators found a video footage from the house of one Sachin Kumar Kannuajia. Sachin’s house is barely 200 metres from the place where the boy’s body was found. He said the footage revealed the victim boy being accompanied by his elder brother Suraj Singh at around 9.15pm on Tuesday night. Thereafter, Suraj was found returning alone from the same route after some time, he added.

“On suspicion, Suraj was taken into custody and rigorously interrogated during which he confessed to the crime of murdering his younger brother in a fit of rage,” he said.

The SSP said Suraj said his father had scolded him a few days ago as he was unemployed and kept loitering around. He said Suraj’s father had also threatened to disown him from his property and transfer it in the name of his younger brother. The accused planned to murder his younger brother fearing being excluded from acquiring his father’s property, he added.

He said the accused first purchased a kitchen knife to murder his brother but changed the plan at the last moment believing that he would be caught if the blood stains were found on his clothes. He said the accused strangulated the boy to death after taking him to a deserted place and disposed of his body in the pit. Moreover, he also beat up the boy with his belt to crosscheck whether he was dead or not.