Killer uncle wanted ransom to start biz

The fears expressed by the family of the two abducted and murdered siblings from east Delhi that an insider might be involved in the crime were true. Karn Pratap Singh reports. In police net

The fears expressed by the family of the two abducted and murdered siblings from east Delhi that an insider might be involved in the crime were true.

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Hours after the decomposed bodies of the two siblings were recovered from near Pragati Maidan on Saturday, the police nabbed their uncle Amit Singh - the prime suspect.

Police said they suspected involvement of Singh from the beginning since his mobile phone's location was found to be near the school, from where the victims were abducted, at the time of the incident.

"During investigation we came across several facts that indicated the involvement of an 'insider'. Firstly, as per the school protocol, the victims could have been picked up from the school only by their parents or a relative. Secondly, the accused were aware of the money the family had recently got. Also, all the nine ransom calls were made from PCOs located close to the victims' house in Mandawali," said an investigating officer.

The police subjected Singh to sustained grilling and he confessed his role as the architect of the nefarious plot. He also helped the police in nabbing his two associates, Shivam Gupta and Pankaj Kashyap, both 19. His third associate Absishek is untraceable.

Police claimed that it was their concern about the safety of the kidnapped siblings that prevented them from nabbing Singh at the outset.

On February 26, Mansij, 7, and his sister Yashvi, 5, were kidnapped from outside their school in Mandawali by Singh after Gupta locked their mother inside the house so that she could not reach the school.

Singh took the two siblings to Pandav Nagar and Kashyap made the first ransom call. Later, Singh brought the children at Mehrauli bus stop and asked his associates to reach there.

"They brought the victims to Millennium Park and tried to kill them after their attempts to extort money from the victims' family failed. Realising that it was difficult to keep the children with them for long, they took them near Pragati Maidan and killed them before dumping their bodies," said Prabhakar, DCP (east). He said the accused could not get the ransom as they were not able to make the parents speak to the kidnapped children.

Police said the accused were in dire need of money and they were eyeing R30 lakh the victims' family had got in a property deal.