Three arrested for murder of 12-year-old in Ambernath

Three cousins arrested for planning and executing the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old boy in Thane. Accused sent to police custody for 7 days.

THANE: Three cousins have been arrested in the kidnapping and murder case of a 12-year-old boy by the Kulgaon Badlapur police. The accused had been planning this murder for the past two months and all three were equally involved in the planning, said the police. The accused were produced in court on Tuesday, and were sent to police custody for the next seven days.

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The deceased, Ibad Bubere, had gone to a mosque to offer namaz when he was allegedly abducted and murdered by his neighbours in Goregaon village on the Badlapur-Karjat road in Ambernath taluka. A case of kidnapping, extortion and murder has been filed against them under several sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused, Salman Maulvi, Safuan Maulvi and Abdul Maulvi, all in their 20s, lived next door to Ibad. Salman worked in a garage in Badlapur while Safuan was an electrician. After arresting them, the police discovered that the accused had been planning the murder for a long time.

The three are cousins,” said a police officer. “Ibad, who had overheard chatter about Safuan from his elders, would often tease him on his personal behaviour and make sexually offensive remarks. Safuan wanted to teach him a lesson, and along with his two brothers, drew up a plan to kidnap and murder him. The plan failed twice but this time on account of the Ramdan crowds, they managed to take him away. Immediately after that, one of them gagged him and the other strangled him to death.”

The accused later packed Ibad’s body in a gunny bag and kept it behind their house. “They had bought several SIM cards in advance for the fake ransom call to Ibad’s father in order to mislead people into thinking that the boy had been kidnapped for ransom,” said a police officer. “But before they could execute their plan of elaborating on this story, they were nabbed by the police.”

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, his father, Muddasir Bubere, got a call on his mobile phone and was warned that if he wanted to see his son alive, he would have to pay a ransom of ₹25 lakh.

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. This call was traced by the police, who arrested him immediately.