Mutilated body of 8-year-old found near Etawah construction site, probe on

Police are investigating whether the child was killed before being dumped or attacked by stray dogs, as postmortem reports are awaited.

Etawah: The mutilated body of an eight-year-old boy was found near under-construction houses in Etawah district's Kotwali Sadar area on Friday, police said.

City Kotwal Yashwant Singh said the boy, identified as Ahil, a resident of Garhi Pura, had stepped out of his house in Thursday morning to collect scrap. The boy's father works as a scrap dealer.

The incident came to light when locals noticed a pack of stray dogs barking and fighting near the site. Upon checking, they found the boy's body lying in a pool of blood.

Residents alerted the police, which reached the spot and sent the body for postmortem. Singh said a deep cut mark was found on the child's neck, suggesting he may have been killed with a sharp weapon and his body dumped at the spot.

"Whether the child was murdered and his body left for dogs, or the dogs themselves attacked and killed him, will be confirmed after postmortem," the officer said, adding further investigation will proceed based on the report.