The police have arrested one person in connection with the murder of the nine-year-old boy, who went missing from Hanagodu village in Hunsur taluk near here on Wednesday.
The police said they received a complaint that the boy Karthik, a Class IV student, had been missing since Wednesday when he left home to buy crackers.
Superintendent of Mysuru district police R. Chethan said the police had rounded up a few suspects and sustained interrogation of one of them led to the recovery of the boy’s body from a bush near the village. The Hunsur Rural police had now registered a case of murder and continuing the investigation to learn about the motive behind the boy’s abduction and death.
Police sources said the boy’s father Nagaraj, a trader, had received a call for ransom from an unlisted number, hours after his son went missing on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chethan said the police had also received a complaint from the residents of Hanagodu that several people from the village and surrounding villages were becoming addicted to online betting games. The villagers had alleged that the youth, who had become addicted to the games, were taking to crime and suspected the same reason to be behind the abduction and murder.
Mr. Chethan said the police were told to take action against illegal activities including online gambling.
