Two minor siblings who were kidnapped from outside their school in the Capital’s Mandawali area four days ago were found murdered near Pragati Maidan on Saturday.
The kidnappers had demanded Rs.30 lakh as ransom for safe release of the children.
The highly decomposed bodies of Mansij (7) and his sister Yashbi (5) were found at an isolated spot a few metres from Bhairon Road around 9 a.m. when a passer-by noticed them and made a call to the Police Control Room.
The police refused to comment on the cause and time of the deaths saying that the post-mortem report was awaited, but sources said the two were suspected to have been strangulated within hours of being kidnapped. As the news of the recovery of the bodies reached the area, locals gathered outside the Mandawali police station in the afternoon in large numbers and raised slogans against the Delhi Government and the Delhi Police. The protesters, including a large number of women, accused the police of shoddy investigation and delaying action.
The bodies were handed over to the family following post-mortem at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. The family then took the bodies to their native village in Uttar Pradesh to perform the last rites.
The police suspect involvement of someone known to the family.
Though no arrests had been made in this connection till late at night, relatives of the victims claimed that a couple of young men were detained and being questioned.
Mansij and Yashbi, both students of Mother’s Convent School on Buddha Marg, were kidnapped by unknown persons claiming to be their relatives on February 26 afternoon. “The family got the first ransom call on February 27 and the caller demanded Rs.30 lakh for safe release of the children.
The kidnappers called again on February 28 and repeated the demand. All the calls were made from public call office booths within a radius of one to two km from the house. All the calls were made to the mobile phone of the mother of the children,” said Prahlad Kumar, one of the relatives of the victims.
