Missing boy found murdered near Manavalakurichi

In a shocking incident, a probe into a case of boy missing has revealed that the four-year-old, Johan Riji of Kadiyapattanam near here, was murdered by a woman who had hid the body inside an almirah.

The police said that based on the complaint of the boy’s mother, Silija (28), Manavalakurichi police on Friday registered a case of boy missing.His father John Richard works abroad. The mother had thought that Johan who went out to play on Friday afternoon could have strayed into the sea that is close to her house in Fatima Street.

Relatives made a frantic search for the boy throughout Friday night.

However, when the police began the probe, the needle of suspicion pointed at her neighbour Fatima (35) after her children told the police that their mother had gone out for pledging jewels.

Immediately, the police went in search of her and found that Fatima was in possession of a gold chain and a bracelet, along with a silver hip chain, belonging to the missing boy.

During interrogation, it was found that Fatima had tried to rob the boy of the valuables on Friday.However, when the boy resisted and raised an alarm, the woman had strangulated him to death.

She had kept the body inside the almirah among the clothes with the plan of dumping the body in the sea after night fall.However, since the villagers had assembled in large numbers on the seashore, the woman could not take it stealthily to the sea.

The police have picked up Fatima and her husband Sarobin, for interrogation.