8-year-old in Delhi kidnapped to fund vocational education, killed

The man, identified only as Gautam, killed the boy on July 23 pushing him into a drain, the police said. He wanted to use the ransom to pay for a vocational course at a private institute where he thought he would get placed in a decent job, they said.

Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and killed his neighbour’s eight-year-old son in outer Delhi’s Kirari neighbourhood, and days after the murder demanded a ransom of ₹25 lakh, the police said.

The boy went missing on July 23 around 9pm while his father, a trader, was in Hyderabad. Unable to find him, the family members approached the Aman Vihar police station. (Photo @DelhiPolice)

The man, identified only as Gautam, killed the boy on July 23 pushing him into a drain, the police said. He wanted to use the ransom to pay for a vocational course at a private institute where he thought he would get placed in a decent job, they said.

Gautam stayed near the drain for three to four minutes to make sure that the boy drowned. Afterwards, he joined the boy’s family and the police in a search. He wanted to stay updated about the police’s probe and try and flee the city if they detected the crime and identified him as the suspect, the police said.

The boy’s body was found in the drain on July 25, two days after he went missing from outside his Prem Nagar Extension home near Kirari, but the father got a ransom call from Gautam saying that his son was alive and the body that had been recovered was not his. The father got the first call on July 26, when his son’s autopsy was underway at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

“Despite the father agreeing to pay the ransom, nobody ever turned up to collect it at either of the two different places in Rohini designated by the caller,” said additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajiv Ranjan.

Police said Gautam wanted to call the family immediately after killing the boy, but his plan to arrange a cellphone SIM card using forged documents had been delayed by three days.

“He knew that the boy’s body was recovered but before his ransom calls, the family as well as the police were considering it a case of accidental drowning,” said Ranjan.

The boy went missing on July 23 around 9pm while his father, a trader, was in Hyderabad. Unable to find him, the family members approached the Aman Vihar police station.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Joy Tirkey said the missing boy’s body was found in the drain less than a kilometre from his home.

“Since the caller had claimed himself to be the kidnapper and knew that the father was at the hospital mortuary, we suspected the role of somebody known to the family,” Tirkey said.

The call details of the phone number used by the kidnapper were obtained and police zeroed in on Gautam, who lived next door. Police said Gautam confessed to the crime during interrogation.

During his questioning, Gautam said he had asked the boy to accompany him to the local market.

“When they reached Kirari drain, Gautam pushed the boy into it. Nobody noticed the crime since the area was dark and lonely at that time. The boy drowned in the seven-eight feet of drain water and muck. Gautam then joined the family in the search,” Tirkey said.

Police said Gautam needed money for admission in a private institute. In 2018, he had allegedly stolen jewellery from a neighbour’s house but was caught. The matter reached the local police, but the family from whom the jewellery was stolen decided not to file a complaint.