THREE MINOR boys were strangled to death and their bodies dumped in a Chinhat pond on Monday.
They had been reported missing since July 21. The victims included a brother duo. The kin of the deceased informed the cops the day the boys went missing. But, the cops lodged an FIR on Sunday.
Despite clear injury marks around their necks, the cops declared in the morning that the boys drowned to death. They did not probe into the matter providing ample chance to the killers to manage their escape.
SSP GK Goswami ordered investigation late in the evening that too when the post-mortem examination report confirmed ‘strangling’ as the cause of death.
The cops were now struggling to trace the suspects.
The incident came to light on Monday morning when some local residents spotted bodies floating in the pond of Bharwara village. They immediately informed the police but they took over one-and-half hours to reach the spot and fish out the bodies.
Hanuman Chauhan, a mason and resident of destitute colony, Virajkhand, too rushed the scene as his sons Manish (12) Gopal (10) and his neighbour Umashanker’s son Shubham (8) were missing since the evening of July 21.
Chauhan reached there and was shocked to see that the bodies were that of his sons and Shubham.
{{/usCountry}}Chauhan reached there and was shocked to see that the bodies were that of his sons and Shubham.
{{/usCountry}}The evidence clearly indicated that the boys were murdered. But, the station house officer (SHO) RK Sharma refused to go by the circumstantial evidence and declared that the boys were drowned. Local residents and the family members of the deceased though protested SHO’s attitude and warned to stage an agitation, the cops threatened them to keep mum or they would face the consequences.
Chauhan said his sons and Shubham were last seen playing in the park in the colony in the evening on July 21. They disappeared from the park suddenly.
Chauhan and Umashanker, both, went to the police the same night after they failed to trace their wards. But, the cops shooed them away.
On the other hand, despite knowing about the evidence and the act of the local police SSP Goswami too repeated the same theory of drowning before the mediapersons in the evening. Goswami changed his statement only after he came to know about the post-mortem report. He later issued order to the local police to register a case of murder and initiate the probe.
SP (Trans-Gomti) AK Singh, when inquired about the development in the case, replied to HT Lucknow Live that a police team has been engaged to trace the suspects.