The body of a 12-year-old boy who was reported missing by his family was found with his upper part burnt with acid and his head crushed with a brick.
The child's family approached the police after he went missing on Friday, July 16. A case was registered based on the complaint and a search operation was initiated to find the boy.
On Sunday, investigators were alerted after a villager spotted the child’s body in a maize field in the Kasganj district of Agra, India. The police officers responded to the scene and declared the boy dead.
According to a villager, the boy had injury marks all over his body.
"Face of the child was crushed with bricks. And the upper body part was burnt with acid," the Times of India quoted the villager as saying.
The child’s body was sent to a medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The exact cause of death will be ascertained after the results are out.
Based on a preliminary investigation, officials believe that the child was killed by distant relatives of the family.
According to police, the investigators have identified the suspects and have registered a case against three relatives and two unknown persons under section 359 (kidnapping) and section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The victim’s mother claimed in her complaint that the relatives of her brother’s wife are behind the child’s murder, a police officer said.
Officials confirmed that they have arrested one of the accused. Investigators said that the child’s uncle is accused of killing his wife. And the deceased woman’s relatives carried out the murder as a retaliation to the slaying.
"Initial investigation revealed that the brother of the child's mother had earlier murdered her wife. The child was targeted to take revenge. One of the accused has been arrested. He is being interrogated to get more details. A special team has been constituted to arrest the other two accused," Superintendent of Police, Manoj Kumar Sonkar, said.
This is an ongoing investigation and efforts are being put in to nab the remaining suspects, the police official said.
