Representative image of a dead body.
Credit: iStock Photo
In Uttar Pradesh's Etah district, two 12-year-old boys stabbed an 11-year-old to death for 'blackmailing' them.
The victim was a class 3 student according to the police, The Indian Express reported.
The victim's body was discovered in a field covered in bruises on his stomach, head and face. Subsequently, a case was registered against an unidentified person for murder at the local police station.
During the investigation, one of the 12 year-olds who was initially detained in connection to the case claimed that a masked man attacked and killed the victim. But soon the police began to suspect his involvement in the crime. The two boys were the last ones seen going into the fields with the victim and their statements kept changing, the publication reported.
A police officer told the publication, “When the two were questioned in detail, they confessed to have killed the boy as he blackmailed one of them by threatening to inform his family about his misconduct with a girl.”
The victim had started blackmailing the main accused. The latter had even given him money on two occasions.
The police said that according to the plan, the boys took the victim into a field nearby. While one attacked him with the knife, the other hit him on the head with a stone.
"The boys also hit at the victim’s private parts,” the officer added.
The boys ran back to the village after the victim collapsed and told people that a masked man had attacked them. The villagers found the victim's body as they rushed to the spot.
The two boys were detained by the police on Thursday following which they were presented in front of the Juvenile Justice Board. They have been sent to a correction home in Agar, Circle Officer Sanjay Kumar Singh said as per the report.