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Boy beaten to death in Delhi on suspicion of theft
The victim's family said he left home at 11.30pm, telling his mother that he was going to find something to eat, but he never returned.
A 17-year-old boy was allegedly caught breaking into a house in east Delhi’s Farsh Bazar, following which he was tied to a pole and beaten to death, police officers aware of the case said on Wednesday, adding that two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Police said the boy lived in east Delhi’s Kanti Nagar with his mother and older brother. His family said that he left home on his motorcycle at around 11.30pm on Monday, telling his mother that he was going to find something to eat. He did not return the entire night, they said.
On Tuesday, at 6.41am, the police control room (PCR) received a call about a thief being caught red-handed, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said. By the time police reached the spot, the boy had been badly thrashed. “We got the injured boy shifted to Dr Hedgewar Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries at 11.11am,” the DCP said.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered at Farsh Bazar police station in connection with the death, while another online first information report (FIR) was filed in connection with a mobile phone which went missing from the house that the boy was accused of breaking into, the DCP said.
Police arrested two men, identified as Kalim Ahmed, 35, and Samir (single name), 21. “They live in the house that was allegedly broken into, and work in the neighbourhood,” said the DCP, adding that the role of a third person in the killing is being probed.
“The boy was accompanied by an accomplice. He is on the run, but we have identified him,” the DCP said. The teenager’s motorcycle was found parked near the spot, said the police.
The family of the dead boy, however, claimed that he may have been killed over some personal enmity and staged an agitation outside Dr Hedgewar Hospital. His uncle said, “It seems my nephew was caught elsewhere and brought to the spot and killed by four-five persons over personal enmity. If he was a thief, the stolen items should have been recovered from him.”
The boy’s family also alleged that his hair was chopped off, and that and both his legs were broken, but the police said that they would comment on the allegations after the autopsy report arrives. “We may change the Indian Penal Code section (to murder), depending on what the autopsy report says,” the DCP said.
