12-year-old boy abducted and killed by neighbours in Ambernath

A 12-year-old boy, who had gone to a mosque to offer namaz, was allegedly abducted and murdered by his neighbours in Goregaon village on the Badlapur-Karjat road in Ambernath taluka

THANE: A 12-year-old boy, who had gone to a mosque to offer namaz, was allegedly abducted and murdered by his neighbours in Goregaon village on the Badlapur-Karjat road in Ambernath taluka. The rural police detained two brothers on suspicion of having committed the crime, along with six of their family members, within three hours. A case of kidnapping, extortion and murder has been filed against them.

12-year-old boy abducted and killed by neighbours in Ambernath

The suspects, Salman Maulvi and Safuan Maulvi, lived next door to the deceased, Ibad Bubere. Salman worked in a garage in Badlapur whereas Safuan worked as an electrician. A police source said that the neighbours had held old grudges against each other for a long time.

According to police officials, on March 24, after Ibad’s family broke its evening fast, he went to the mosque to offer namaz. When he did not return till 9 pm, his relatives and the youth of the village began looking for him. At that point, Ibad’s father Muddasir Bubere got a call on his mobile phone and was warned that if he wanted to see his son alive, he had to pay a ransom of ₹25 lakh. After that, the caller’s phone was switched off.

“After the first call, the mobile was immediately switched off, and within a span of half an hour, the accused changed his SIM card and made another ransom call,” said a police officer. “Our team traced his location to the Maulvis’ house and found Ibad’s body packed in a gunny bag and dumped

house and found Ibad’s body stuffed in a gunny bag dumped behind the house.

Ibad’s distraught family is still unaware why the boy was targeted. Ajiz Bubere, a close relative, said, “His father initially searched for him around the area but couldn’t find him. Ibad had never gone alone anywhere without informing his parents, so we immediately got into action. We circulated his picture to all the groups in the village, and also informed the police. His father got the ransom call after an hour, and when we found the body later, we were shattered. We were hoping till the last moment that we would find him alive. The family is in trauma.”

The post-mortem report shows death due to strangulation. “Ibad, having overheard what his elders would say about one suspect, would often tease him and make personal remarks about his behaviour, thus enraging him,” said a source. “It was because of this that he abducted the boy and strangled him to death. He made a ransom call to mislead people but before he could execute his plan of elaborating on the story of murder for ransom, he was nabbed by the police.” According to the police’s initial investigations, Safuan planned the murder Salman helped him with it.

Once news of the murder and detentions spread, enraged villagers marched to the Maulvis’ house to burn it down. However, the Thane rural police SP Dr D S Swami and other officials immediately went to the spot and controlled the law-and-order situation in the village. The investigation team led by PI S Manore took immediate action and solved the case within three hours.