A 15-year-old boy was allegedly killed by three men for repeatedly trespassing into a farm in central Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Wednesday.
On the face of it, however, it seemed like a case of suicide, a police official said.
Two of the accused have been arrested for alleged murder after the victim's father filed a complaint while a third one was on the run he added.
The incident took place at Nitrud village in Majalgaon taluka on Tuesday morning, he said.
Gulam Mohammed Hafiz Murtaza Shaikh, the victim, was collecting firewood for cooking with his siblings at the time of the incident, said his father Murtuza Shaikh (52) in the complaint.
Kailas alias Pintu Dake and two others caught Gulam, who studied in Class 9, for trespassing into the farm, the complaint alleged.
One of them snatched a scarf that Gulam had brought to tie firewood and started strangling him while Pintu asked him to kill the boy, as per the complaint.
Gulam asked his siblings to run away fearing that they too would be harmed, it said.
When Murtuza Shaikh learnt about the incident from his other children, he ran to the farm only to find Gulam hanging from a neem tree, he told police.
Before that, his two relatives had also reached the spot.
They had been alerted about the incident by a neighbour, they told Shaikh.
Pintu Dake had allegedly called this neighbour and claimed that the boy had hanged himself.
But when they reached the spot, they saw Pintu Dake and another accused hanging the boy from the neem tree, the complainant claimed, adding that after seeing Gulam's relatives, the accused fled.
Six months ago Dake had allegedly beaten up Gulam by tying him to a tree for passing through the farm. He had also threatened to kill Gulam on two occasions, Shaikh told police.
A case of murder was registered at Majalgaon rural police station against three persons, and Kailas alias Pintu Dake and Mahadeo Dake were arrested while a search was on for the third accused, the official said.
However, prima facie it seemed to be a case of suicide as there were no signs of assault on the body, he said, adding that Gulam had reportedly had a quarrel at home before the incident.
Further probe is on, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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