Missing boy's body found with throat slit, 4 arrested

The body of a 13-year-old boy, who went missing on Thursday, was found with his throat slit and multiple other injuries in a paddy field at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas on Sunday morning.

The police had arrested four persons late Saturday night on basis of the missing complaint lodged by the boy's family members.

Though the police are yet to ascertain the exact reason behind the murder, they suspect that dispute over selling of a plot of land with the victim's father had led to the crime.

The victim, Jagadish Mondal, was a student of Class VIII in a school near his residence at Golaghata near Baruipur. His father, Prabhas Mondal, owns a grocery shop adjacent to their house.

Jagadish went missing on Thursday evening when he was in the shop after his father went out for some work.

One Ashok Halder, who is also a resident of the same area, went to the shop when the victim's father was not present and had asked Jagadish to go with him.

Jagadish knew Ashok well, but he was unaware of the dispute between him and his father. So he thought that his father might have asked Ashok to take him along for some work.

The boy's family members lodged a complaint with the police after

failing to find Jagadish after searching for him everywhere.

Since Thursday evening, Ashok was also missing which led to the suspicion of the police. The investigating officers had kept a track whether the boy's father received any ransom calls. But nothing as such had taken place.

At the same time, the police had also initiated a search for Ashok. Finally the police arrested Ashok along with

three others from a place under the jurisdiction of the Coastal Police Station at Sundarbans.

On Sunday morning the police found the body with his throat slit and the veins in both of his hands cut. The body has been sent for an autopsy.

A police officer said that after kidnapping Jagadish, the accused had

kept him in a place for a day and then they did not find any way out as the boy had already identified them. So they killed him.

After speaking to the deceased's family members, the police came to know about Jagadish's father's dispute with Ashok over selling a plot of land. Police suspect that Ashok had killed the boy and later dumped the body in the paddy field.

A police officer said that they will be reconstructing the entire plot. Besides identifying the route through which the accused had taken the body up to Sonarpur from Baruipur, the police will also try to ascertain the place where the victim was kept for a night.