The mysterious disappearance of a teenaged bakery worker Mohd. Nawaz from Rein Bazar four days ago turned out to be a murder, the police said on Wednesday.
Four persons, alleged pocket-pickers, detained by the police claimed that they had eliminated him as he threatened to alert the police about their thefts. A resident of Rein Bazaar, the teenager disappeared after leaving home for work on January 11.
After searching for him at the houses of his friends and relatives, his family members approached the Rein Bazar police two days ago, who registered a case. Even as searches by the police continued, Nawaz’s elder brother received a phone call from Khusroo, one among the detained quartet, stating that the teenager was murdered and the body was dumped in a drain at Imam Bada in Yakutpura.
The police, along with the victim’s family, rushed to the place and retrieved Nawaz’s decomposed body from the nearly 12-foot-deep drain, which was covered with a lid. Investigators traced Khusroo, 18, first and based on information given by him, picked up his teenaged younger brother, their associate Md. Shabaz and another person Ali Baoum.
“The four detained persons used to indulge in pocket picking at different places in Old City. They maintain that the victim threatened to inform police about their thefts,” the police said. The quartet claimed that they were worried about landing behind the bars if information about their crimes reached the police and so eliminated the teenager.
