30-year-old man arrested for killing 27-month-old baby in Raigad

The local crime branch of Raigad has arrested a 30-year-old man for killing a 27-month-old toddler from Mangaon after its parents, who are the relatives of the accused, were against his love affair

The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Raigad has arrested a 30-year-old man for killing a 27-month-old toddler from Mangaon after its parents, who are the relatives of the accused, were against his love affair.

The accused, who was arrested for killing a 27-month-old baby in Raigad, was in a relationship with a girl from his distant relative’s family. The parents of the toddler opposed their lover affair. (HT FILE)

The accused, identified as Santosh Yadav, was in a relationship with a girl from his distant relative’s family. The parents of the toddler, Rudra Yadav, showed their objection towards the marriage of the accused and his girlfriend.

On October 26, the accused took the toddler from home saying that he was going to buy sweets for him and never returned. On October 26 evening, the parents of the toddler approached Mangaon police and informed them about their missing toddler and that the nephew took him.

“Realising the gravity of the issue, we handed over the case to LCB immediately and also dispatched around eight teams to various places like Roha, Kolad, Tala and Mahad. Nakabandi was imposed across all the places. During the search, we found the two-wheeler of the accused near Roha ST stand. In the CCTV, the toddler was nowhere to be seen and hence we suspected that he might have done something to the child,” Raigad superintendent of police, Ashok Dudhe, said.

“We laid a trap in Silvasa and nabbed the accused. On his arrest, he revealed that he had strangulated and then thrashed the head of the child with a rock on Roha-Murud road and then dumped the body in the bushes near the road. We recovered the body and handed it over to the parents,” police inspector Dayanand Gawade said.

The accused, a class XII pass who worked in a courier company is currently in police custody.