14-year-old boy kills 10-year-old female neighbor over cricket bat theft in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Cyberabad police on Saturday said that a 14-year-old boy has been taken into custody on Friday had killed his 10-year-old neighbor in Kukatpally while he was attempting to steal a cricket bat. The arrest came five days after the tragic incident occurred on August 18.

According to the investigation, the Class 10 student had planned to steal an MRF cricket bat belonging to the victim's younger brother. On the morning of August 18, he entered the victim's house through the terrace and successfully took the bat.

"However, as he was leaving, the 10-year-old girl spotted him and raised an alarm. Fearing he would be caught, the teenager attacked the girl with a knife he was carrying, stabbing her multiple times and causing her death. Following the murder, he washed the knife and his hands, changed his clothes, and attempted to act as though nothing had happened," said Cyberabad Police Commissioner Avinash Mohanty on Saturday.

The murder occurred in Kukatpally's Sangeeth Nagar area when the Class 6 girl was alone at home due to a school holiday.

Police recovered several key pieces of evidence, the knife used in the crime, a handwritten note detailing the boy's theft plan, the clothes he wore during the offense, and the MRF cricket bat.

The case remained unsolved for several days until a crucial witness came forward. A software engineer living in the same neighborhood, who was working from home on the day of the murder, observed the boy acting suspiciously while hiding and placing something on a nearby terrace. When this information was reported to police, they immediately detained the boy from the adjacent building.

The post-mortem report revealed that the girl had suffered up to 20 knife wounds across her body, with 10 concentrated on her neck alone. The preliminary medical examination indicated the murder occurred between 9:30 and 10:30 am.

The victim's father got to know about the murder when he returned home at 12:30 pm to collect a lunchbox for their son who was at school. Finding the door locked from outside, he opened it to find his daughter's lifeless body on her bed with multiple stab wounds.

Both parents had been at work when the incident occurred. The father works at a local mechanic shop, while the mother serves as a lab technician at a private hospital.

Police found that the 14-year-old frequently watched crime series on OTT platforms, which may have influenced his violent behavior. The boy and the victim's younger brother had quarreled over the bat a few days earlier, and the accused had attended the victim's birthday party just a few months before the murder.

The victim's family originally hailed from Muktakasaram village in Munipalli Mandal, Sangareddy district, but had been residing in Kukatpally for five years. Besides the deceased girl, the couple has a son who attends a nearby school.