11-year-old’s body found in bed box at house in west Delhi

The body of an 11-year-old boy was found stuffed inside a bed box in Delhi. The boy was allegedly strangled to death by a woman who wanted to marry his father.

The body of an 11-year-old boy was found stuffed inside a bed box in their rented flat in west Delhi’s Inderpuri by his mother on Thursday evening, the Delhi Police said on Friday, adding that the boy was allegedly strangled to death by a woman who wanted to marry his father.

The house where the boy’s body was found. (HT Photo)

A case of murder was registered at the Inderpuri police station and multiple teams were formed to nab the suspect, police said.

Officers said that the suspect was identified as Pooja, 24, and is absconding. She is known to the boy’s parents — Neelu Pal, 32, and Jitender Singh, 33 — who are separated from each other. According to a senior officer aware of the case, Pooja was allegedly persuading Jitender to leave his family and marry her.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Vichitra Veer said that on Thursday, around 8.30pm, they received information from a private hospital that a boy was admitted with strangulation marks.

“The boy was dead at the time of the admission. A police team reached the hospital and recorded the statement of the boy’s mother. Accordingly, a murder case was registered. The autopsy was conducted at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital. The accused has been identified and raids are being conducted to nab her. As per the details available so far, the suspect was known to the family of the boy and even visited their house in the past. On Thursday too, she went to the house when the mother of the boy was not home and killed him,” said DCP Veer.

According to the other senior officer cited above, the boy’s parents worked with separate private companies. The couple separated a few months ago and the boy lived with his mother on the second floor of a five-storey building at Inderpuri E Block.

“Neelu was returning from work around 6pm on Thursday when she received a call from her son’s dance teacher who told her that the boy did not got to the class. Neelu reached home and found the main door of the flat locked from the outside, which was not unusual since the boy had a spare key,” said the officer.

Neelu said she found the house messed up but did not suspect any foul play since her son sometimes left things unattended. “I went inside and found the microwave and a stool on the bed but I did not suspect anything. I locked the house and went out to look for him. I panicked when I could not find him at the usual locations he visited and informed my husband,” Neelu said.

The boy’s mother alleged that Jitender got a call from Pooja later who spoke to them cryptically about “eliminating a loved one”. When they asked her about their son’s whereabouts, she disconnected the call, she said.

Neelu added that she returned to the flat and noticed that the cover of the bed box was slightly open. “I opened it and found my son lying unconscious. We rushed him to the private hospital where doctors declared him brought-dead,” she added.