Youth held for murdering six-yr-old boy who used to 'leer at his wife'

NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old man was arrested for murdering a six-year-old boy, who was found dead inside a bed's box in south east Delhi's Okhla Phase-II on Friday morning.

According to police, a complaint was filed on September 27 regarding the disappearance of the boy, who reportedly had been missing since 4 pm from Janta Jeevan Rajeev Camp in Okhla Phase-II.

An FIR was registered and search for the boy was conducted. At 9.43 am on Friday, police received a call from some of the victim's neighbours that they had noticed a strong stench emanating from an empty house, located near the boy's residence.

Police entered the house and, on inspection, found the boy's decomposed body wrapped in a plastic bag, which was stuffed inside the bed box of a house next door.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Romil Baaniya said that the house belonged to a Sarvani Devi. The bag in which the body was found had the name of Sarvani Devi's daughter-in-law stamped across it.

On asking around, a shopkeeper in the area told police that the son of this daughter-in-law, identified as 19-year-old Rohit, had bought flour from the shop and carried it in the same bag.

After searching for Rohit, he was found to have been missing since morning and his phone was found switched off.

Immediately, a search for the suspect began and he was later found hiding fearing his arrest. Rohit was arrested from the area and confessed to the murder.

According to the police, the accused said that the boy used to "leer at his newly-wed wife while she used to bathe and used to make lewd comments."

This angered Rohit and, on Wednesday, he hit the boy. The boy's head hit the edge of the bed and started bleeding.

Panicked, the accused wrapped a cloth around his mouth and asphyxiated him. He then put the body in the bed box and hid it.

"There is no instance of sodomy or sexual assault, as per Rohit. However, the same is pending verification in the post-mortem. Rohit also said that he had a quarrel with the boy's father, who used to abuse the accused in front of his newly-wed wife and others. So he murdered the boy as a way to get back at the father," said the DCP.

NEW DELHI: After the six-year-old boy had gone missing, residents of Janta Jeevan Rajeev Camp began searching for him. One of these people included the mother of the 19-year-old accused.

Talking to Millennium Post, Dhaula Ram, the father of the victim, said that when all the neighbours were searching for his son, Rohit's mother was directing to people to search at various different places.

"We cannot say whether she was helping us or showing fake sympathy," said Lalit Kumar, the brother of the deceased boy.

Lalit said that after his brother disappeared, Rohit had asked him to lend him his motorcycle so that Rohit could take his wife to the doctor. Having no clue of what Rohit had done to his brother, Lalit had even helped him.

''I helped him on humanitarian grounds, but never thought the person I am helping had killed my brother," said Lalit.

Remembering his young brother's last words, Lalit said that he had asked their mother to prepare 'pakodas' for them. The boy then went outside to play and never returned home.

The boy was studying in a school in the cluster area, and the accused lives near to his home.

"There is a wall which connects my home to that of Rohit. I don't have any personal enmity with anyone. Then why did he kill my son," asks the grieving Dhaula Ram.

To search for the boy, Dhaula Ram and Lalit had visited eight different places, starting from Okhla.

The boy's body was found when some neighbour noticed a foul smell coming from a home. After police were informed, a team of cops entered the house and found the body.

After hearing the news, the victim's mother lost consciousness. Police sources said that after killing the boy, Rohit was still staying at his house. Once the boy's body was found, he immediately fled.