A teenager has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping his neighbour’s minor son seeking a ransom of Rs.5,000 and murdering him. The victim’s body has been recovered from a drain at the instance of the accused.
Rounak, 5, was playing outside his house in Raja Vihar on June 14 when he went missing under mysterious circumstances. When he could not be traced for long, his father Rajbir Singh reported the matter to the police and a case was registered under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code.
“On June 16, Rounak’s elder sister received a call for a Rs.5,000 ransom for his safe release. The investigators zeroed in on the victim’s 19-year-old neighbour Vikas. He was arrested at a park in Raja Vihar,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) B.S. Jaiswal. Vikas purportedly told the police that he was in need of money and decided to kidnap Rounak as he knew that the boy’s family had recently sold off their ancestral land to set up a business in Delhi. He lured the boy with a promise of buying him biscuits and took him to a market in Samipur Badli. When he could not find suitable place to keep the boy confined, he allegedly strangulated him and dumped his body in an open drain. He then made four calls for ransom and planned to escape with the money.
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Vikas, a native of Bihar, is a labourer.