A kidnapper allegedly murdered an 11-year-old boy in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and dumped his body in a bush, because the child’s father was not able to pay a Rs5 lakh (Dh25,034) ransom in time. Yesterday, police in UP’s Mathura district arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with the shocking murder.
According to Indian news reports, the boy’s father, Kailashi, a resident of the Aurangabad town in UP, filed a complaint in the local police station after his son went missing on Saturday. In the complaint, Kailashi said that Roopesh had gone out of the house to play with his friends on Saturday afternoon, but did not return home.
After efforts to locate the boy failed, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on Saturday night.
Police officials told Indian news media outlets that on Sunday morning, Kailashi received a call from a person who said that the boy was with him. He also demanded a ransom of Rs5 lakh to release Roopesh from captivity.
Not able to pay the ransom amount, Kailashi, a mason by profession, informed police about the call.
The police were able to track the location of the caller based on the phone call and reached the accused. However, it was too late. Lokesh had already killed Roopesh.
He was arrested and interrogated. Based on the confession, police found the boy’s body near Jawahar Bagh in the Mathura district.
The investigation also revealed that Lokesh was not a stranger to the family.
Research on victim/offender relationships in child abduction/molestation cases across the world has often shown that perpetrators of these crimes are not perceived as strangers by their victims. Lokesh, too, was a frequent visitor to Kailashi's house.
The police are interrogating the accused to ascertain further details, and have sent the boy’s body for post-mortem.
