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Missing boy found murdered after 3 weeks, two neighbours arrested
Personal enmity with a neighbouring family led to the murder of an eight-year-old boy whose body was recovered from a forest in north Kashmir’s Kupwara on Tuesday, three weeks after he went missing
Personal enmity with a neighbouring family led to the murder of an eight-year-old boy whose body was recovered from a forest in north Kashmir’s Kupwara on Tuesday, three weeks after he went missing.
A neighbouring mother-son duo was arrested by the police for allegedly kidnapping and murdering the boy on whose disclosure the body of Talib Ahmad Khan, 8, was recovered from a nearby forest in Awoora village of Kupwara.
Police said the accused are the family’s neighbours Aamir Ahmad Khan, 19, and his mother Shahnaza Begum, 37.
“Aamir committed the crime on February 15 at behest of his mother and both have been arrested. Aamir had developed enmity with the boy’s family. There are some other aspects as well which we will reveal in due course,” said Kupwara SSP Yougal Manhas.
Police said Talib, son of Manzoor Ahmad Khan, had disappeared moments after he left home on February 15 and since then, police had been on toes, carrying out searches for the missing boy.
“First, we suspected he might have been taken away by wild animals. Locals and the army were involved in the searches. We even used drones and sniffing dogs but got no clue,” the SSP said.
He said they then focused on the kidnapping aspect and many suspects were put to questioning in the last three weeks. “After exploring all possible angles, police zeroed-in on main suspect Aamir. After questioning, he confessed to the crime and led to recovery of the body,” he added.
After postmortem, the body was laid to rest in the ancestral graveyard on Tuesday.
“We are waiting for the final postmortem report to come to a conclusion on the cause of death,” Manhas said.
The SSP said accused Aamir is a Class 12 dropout whose father is a serving policeman posted in south Kashmir. The accused had killed the boy even before the family had filed a report.
