Murdered kids’ uncle held, is prime suspect

A day after the decomposed bodies of two kidnapped school-going siblings were recovered near Pragati Maidan, east Delhi police have arrested three suspects, including a distant uncle of the victims.

A day after the decomposed bodies of two kidnapped school-going siblings were recovered near Pragati Maidan, east Delhi police have arrested three suspects, including a distant uncle of the victims.

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A fourth accused is on the run. The four men hatched the plot because they were in desperate need of money and were eyeing Rs. 30 lakh the victims’ family had got in a property deal.

Police said the uncle, Amit Singh, 22, is the prime accused, who up until his arrest pretended to be a well-wisher of the children’s family. Singh allegedly picked up the children from school and kidnapped them.

Mansij, 7, and his sister Yashvi, 5, were kidnapped on February 26 from outside their school in Mandawali and nine ransom calls demanding R30 lakh were made to their parents from nine different PCOs.

Prabhakar, DCP (east), said the suspects killed the children because their attempts to extort money failed and they realised it was difficult to keep the siblings with them for long. The little ones were strangled and smothered.

“They first tried to kill them in Millennium Park but eventually murdered them near Pragati Maidan,” he said. The others arrested are Shivan Gupta and Pankaj Kashyap, both 19.