11-year-old strangled, body found in bed box in Delhi's Inderpuri

An 11-year-old boy was strangled allegedly by a woman who stuffed his body in a bed box at his house in west Delhi’s Inderpuri area, police said on Friday.

The suspect has been identified as Pooja who was known to the boy’s parents. Multiple teams have been formed and raids are being conducted at her possible hideouts, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Vichitra Veer said.

On Thursday around 8.30 pm, police received information from BLK Hospital about a boy who was brought dead to the hospital and had strangulation marks on his neck, police said.

According to the initial investigation, the suspect was known to the boy's family and had even visited their house in the past. However, they had a feud over some issues, the DCP said.

On Thursday, Pooja came to the house when the victim's mother was not there and allegedly committed the offence, police said.

The matter came to light after the boy's teacher called his mother and informed her that the boy did not come to his class, they said.

“I was returning home from my office when I received a call from my son’s teacher that he did not come to the class. When I reached the home, I found it was locked from the outside. I opened the lock, went inside and saw that the whole house was ransacked and some items were lying on the bed,” the mother said in her statement.

The woman searched the house for her son and noticed that the mattress on the bed was not in place. When she opened the bed box, she found her son lying lifeless inside it, police said.

She rushed her son to the hospital where he was declared dead, they said.

According to police, the boy’s parents Jitender and Neelu had been living separately for some time. Pooja came to the woman’s house when she was not there. She stayed there for a while and left after some time.

Neelu, in her statement, said, “I called my husband and informed him about it. Meanwhile, he received a call from a woman who threatened him.” A murder case has been registered at Inderpuri police station and the body has been sent to RML Hospital for post-mortem, the DCP said. PTI NIT NB