Boy beaten to death by six of family for theft at their house in Mukundpur

New Delhi: A 16-year-old was beaten to death in north west Delhi's Mukundpur area on Tuesday, with Delhi Police claiming he was beaten up for allegedly trespassing and attempting to rob a house in his neighbourhood. Six men were found involved in the act, three of whom have been arrested.

The family of the deceased boy, however, asserted he did not commit the crime.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Aslam Khan said that the culprits have been identified as Nand Kishore, Raj Kishore, Triveni, Deshraj, Sant Lal and Sohan Lal.

All the men are brothers and reportedly beat up the boy alleging that he had tried to rob one of their houses.

Elaborating the sequence of events, a police official said that the boy and two of his associates was allegedly scaling the culprits' house to commit theft, when one of the accused spotted them and alerted the others.

While his associates managed to flee, the 16-year-old was caught by the brothers.

"He was beaten by the six men inside the house and later was thrown outside," said the officer.

Asha, a woman living near the house of the accused brothers, reportedly spotted the boy lying unconscious near her house around 7 am. "He had injury marks on his back and was only wearing his underwear and vest when I found him," said Asha.

A call was immediately made to the police in this regard and the boy was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

Meanwhile, family members of the deceased boy claimed that he had no friends in the locality as he had come to Delhi only 20 days ago.

The boy's brother said, "My brother was not involved in the case. He had eaten food and gone to sleep around 10 pm last night and in the morning when we woke up, he was not in the bed."

"People were talking about a body lying in the nearby lane. I rushed there and found my brother laying with several injury marks. I suspect he was beaten with sticks," said the brother.

Another relative said that even if the boy had committed theft, he should have been handed over to the police and not beaten to death.

The DCP said a case under section 304 of the IPC has been registered and three of the accused arrested. Moreover, another case under IPC sections of theft and tresspassing was registered against the deceased, while a mobile phone and some money was recovered from the spot.

Meanwhile, residents in the area said there have often been burglaries in the area, but remained mum on the incident saying that did not talk much to the neighbours and the victim's family.

Why did they have to kill the boy, ask family members

"He only wanted to learn English and some vocational training, so that he could earn some money," said the grandfather of the 16-year-old boy, who was beaten to death by six men over suspicion of theft in Mukundpur on Tuesday.

While boy lived on the first floor, the grandfather lives on the ground floor of a single room rented accommodation along with four others.

"Those men (accused), after catching the boy, should have informed police or brought him to us. We should have taken action. Why did they kill him," asked the heartbroken grandfather.

Other relatives of the boy denied claims that he was involved in any crime, adding that there was no chance that he could have scaled a wall taller than 10 feet and then jumped inside the house to commit theft.

Meanwhile, other residents in the area claimed that they did not hear any commotion during the entire incident.

"As Janmasthmi festivities were on till 1 am, there was a crowd in the area. Later, in the morning, we saw the body lying near the house. But we did not hear any sound in the morning," said a neighbour of the accused family, adding that she had never seen the boy before.