Juveniles kill boy in extortion bid

A nine-year-old boy was abducted and murdered by two juveniles in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka, police said on Wednesday.

Police have apprehended the accused. They have confessed to the murder committed on Sunday, saying they wanted to extort money from the boy’s parents, police said.

On Sunday evening, the parents of Lalit Sehrawat, after not seeing him for over an hour, reported a missing complaint with Dwarka sector-23 police station. “We saw Lalit calling from the house’s landline to someone and then he told us that he is going to his friend’s house for a party. As he left the house, we became suspicious; we waited for an hour for him to come but he didn’t,” said Lalit’s grandfather.

Police searched for the boy in the village and its nearby areas, but could not trace him.
“Then we checked the call data record of the phone and found out that Lalit had last spoken to Sandeep (name changed), who lives in our village. Police then apprehended Sandeep and questioned him,” Lalit’s grandfather added.

Sources said Sandeep,17, misled police for two days about the incident and feigned ignorance. After sustained interrogation, he confessed to the crime and also told the police about his accomplice Dinesh (name changed) in the murder.

On Tuesday evening, Sandeep took the investigators to an under-construction building outside the village where the duo had kept Lalit’s body.

Police said Sandeep had befriended Lalit, as the latter used to go to his house to play marbles. Lalit was fond of Sandeep’s parents who dotted on him too. “Sandeep had made a plan to abduct Lalit, so that he could ask for extortion money from his parents,” said Lalit’s relative.

A student of class 3 of Basva International School, Lalit’s father drives a school van and his mother runs a grocery shop.

“When Lalit went to meet Sandeep and his friend, they perhaps tried to forcibly take him to another place. When Lalit resisted their attempts, they slashed his neck with razor blades,” he added.

Police have handed over the body to the family after post-mortem. The two accused have been sent to a juvenile home.