Maharashtra: Watchman kills minor boy over dispute with his mother, held

A watchman allegedly kidnapped a seven-year-old boy and killed him following a dispute with the child's mother in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Nitin Kamble, kidnapped the child from his school in Kalyan town after classes on Monday, Khadakpada police station's assistant police inspector S S Survase said. When the boy did not return home, his family members filed a police complaint of kidnapping against unidentified person.

The police launched a search and found the child's body in the swimming pool of a housing complex, the official said. The police subsequently registered a case of murder. During the probe into the case, the police got to know the accused and the victim's mother had an affair.

She later started avoiding him due to which they had a quarrel. The accused, in a bid to settle the score with her, allegedly kidnapped the child and killed him by drowning him in the swimming pool of the housing complex where he worked earlier, the official said. The body was sent to a government hospital for post-mortem.

The accused was later arrested. He used to frequently fetch the child from school, the police said.