Two minors held for murdering 10-year-old, hiding body in mosque

This was the duo’s second attempt in 10 days to kill the boy, said Ved Prakash Surya, deputy commissioner of police (north-east).

Two boys — aged 12 and 17 years — allegedly killed a 10-year-old in a mosque in north-east Delhi’s Khajuri Khas area and then hid his body on the same premises with a plan to extort money, the police said on Saturday after apprehending both the suspects.

The victim, investigators claimed, lived with his parents and his father owns a footwear manufacturing unit. (Representative image)

This was the duo’s second attempt in 10 days to kill the boy, said Ved Prakash Surya, deputy commissioner of police (north-east). “The first time they had offered him water mixed with sleeping pills, but it didn’t have any impact on the boy,” said the DCP.

The victim, investigators claimed, lived with his parents and his father owns a footwear manufacturing unit.The two suspects lived in the same neighbourhood as the victim.

“The 17-year-old had lured the 12-year-old plan to commit the murder and then extort money. The boys didn’t have any concrete plan on how to go about the extortion or the amount to ask. They just thought that they would somehow inform the boy’s father that his child was with them and would be released only if the money was paid. The two boys planned to flee from their homes after getting the money,” said the DCP, based on initial details shared by the two alleged juveniles.

So, after the first failed attempt, the boys allegedly caught hold of the victim a second time when he was walking to the local mosque around 6.30pm on Thursday.

“They gave some cash to the boy and asked him to buy momos from a stall. They then asked him to accompany them to the first floor of the mosque to eat the momos together,” said the DCP.

After having the momos, they lured the boy to the terrace where the younger of them grabbed the 10-year-old victim’s feet while the older one strangulated him, said the police.

Thereafter, they dragged his body to the second floor where they hid in amid some debris and covered it with a sack containing cement.

Meanwhile, the victim’s father approached police with a missing persons complaint upon which a probe was launched and boy’s friends and relatives questioned. When the police got to know that the boy was last spotted walking to the mosque, they focused their probe there and got to know that the victim was last seen with the two boys. The police searched the mosque and recovered the boy’s body.

The DCP said that CCTV footage from the mosque was scanned, revealing the role of the two boys mentioned by the public.

“We spoke to the two boys separately and there were contradictions in their statements. They finally owned up to the crime,” the officer said, adding that it continues to be probed if any adults were involved.