Missing 9-year-old's body found, 'friend' detained

A nine-year-old boy was allegedly killed by his friend, who is also a minor, probably to take revenge of an old dispute between them. The incident took place at Daspur near Mandirbazar in South 24 Parganas.

Police said the victim Rejaul Joardar was missing since Saturday morning and his body with several injury marks was found on Tuesday from a waterbody in the outskirts of Daspur village. Police also found that his eyes were gorged out and a noose mark on his neck. A police officer said that preliminary investigation revealed that he was killed by one of his friends who is also the resident of the same village.

At around 11 am on Saturday, some local people had seen the victim and his friend heading to some place in the outskirts of the village. They were in a hurry and did not even answer a question of asked by a villager. From the very same day Rejaul went missing.

His family members were tensed as he did not return home even after four hours. They initiated a search for him but they couldn't find him anywhere. They finally lodged a complaint with the Mandirbazar police station. The police contacted all the neighbouring police stations and searched every possible place. But they could not find any information about him. The police had also questioned Rejaul's friends including the boy against whom the allegation of murder has been raised. But the police failed to find any clues of the victim's whereabouts from any of them.

On Tuesday morning, some villagers found Rejaul's body and informed the police. The victim's family members went to the spot and identified the body. A police officer said that Rejaul's friend has been detained. Though the exact reason behind the murder is yet to be ascertained, police

suspect that it was because of some old rivalry. The police have also come to know that lives of some other friends of Rejaul are also at risk. Thus they would once again speak to the friends of the deceased.