Man, who killed stepson over fight with wife, arrested

The horrific case came to light on Friday when the disfigured body of the boy, a Class 7 student, was found in bushes near the Shastri Park Chowk early Friday morning, investigators said.

New Delhi: Police on Saturday said they arrested a 36-year-old man who went on the run a day earlier after brutally murdering his 12-year-old stepson following an argument with the boy’s mother in northeast Delhi’s Shastri Park.

Senior officers on Saturday said doctors confirmed the brutal assault. (Representative photo)

The accused, an e-rickshaw driver, told police he killed the child after fights with his wife over her two children, including the victim, moving back home from a hostel. He alleged that after the argument, the woman denied him sexual favours and went to a relative’s house, and that he murdered the boy to teach her a “lesson”.

Police said they are investigating all claims made by the accused, who was nabbed from Ghaziabad after a day-long manhunt launched when the horrific case came to light on Friday when the disfigured body of the boy, a Class 7 student, was found in bushes near the Shastri Park Chowk early Friday morning, investigators said.

According to police, the boy’s mother received a WhatsApp video from an unknown number the next day, in which the suspect confessed to the murder and also showed her the boy’s body.

The mother told HT on Friday: “In the video, he said: ‘Jaa apne bacche ko le ja (Go and fetch your son). I saw my son lying in a pool of blood.”

Senior officers on Saturday said doctors confirmed the brutal assault. “The boy was attacked with stones, sticks and a sharp-edged weapon. His eye was gouged out, his head was smashed and his face and ear had multiple cuts. His throat was also slit,” said a police officer.

Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Ashish Mishra said multiple teams were formed and the suspect was arrested Saturday morning. His e-rickshaw, which he used to kidnap the boy, was also seized, the officer said.

According to police, the victim’s family had not a complaint against the suspect. The family claimed that a complaint had been previously filed by them,which they withdrew later.

The mother told HT: “Around three days back, we had a fight and I had asked the man to leave, which made him very angry. I also left for my relative’s house. I thought he would pick the kids and drop them home from school in my absence. I didn’t know he would take this opportunity to torture and kill my son.”

Investigators said they had found two mobile phone numbers linked to the accused. “Both the numbers were switched off on Friday morning after the man sent the videos to his wife about the murder. He had also sent a photo of the victim’s body to his elder brother. The couple had also been fighting because the wife demanded that her sons (from first marriage) stay with them,” said another officer

The child’s biological father had died in 2019, and his mother remarried in 2020.