Teen held for murdering 8-yr-old

An eight-year-old boy was strangled by a tenant of his family in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar on Thursday.

The 17-year-old accused was detained after the body was found near a park, police said on Friday.

Locals protested outside Sangam Vihar police station demanding strict action against the juvenile. They kept Vansh’s body on the street refusing to cremate it till appropriate action was taken.

The victim has been identified as Vansh Singh who lived with his family at Sangam Vihar G Block. His father Suresh is an electrician.

Police said Vansh had left home to buy household items with a 15-year-old friend, but did not return.

His family had conducted a search with neighbours and contacted their friends. Suresh decided to approach police after all their efforts failed.

“A missing child complaint was filed at 10.30 pm. During investigation, the victim’s body was found next to Monkey Park in the wee hours of Friday. It was identified by Suresh,” said a police officer.

A post-mortem was conducted at AIIMS, but the officer said the exact reason behind the death is yet to be ascertained. Police have also not ruled out the possibility of the victim being sexually assaulted.

During an initial probe, police took the statement of the boy who accompanied Vansh to the market. The boy claimed that a 17-year-old boy met them on the way and took Vansh with him.

This raised suspicion and police started looking for him who is a tenant of Vansh’s family.
“He was found to be missing which strengthened our suspicion. But he was tracked and held,” the officer added.

The boy initially tried to mislead police, but later broke down and confessed to have killed the boy. The boy told police that he strangled Vansh as he was making him angry. He then dumped the body to evade arrest.

“Though he confessed to have murdered the boy, he did not reveal the exact motive behind the murder,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Mandeep Singh Randhawa.