New Delhi:
The two siblings, whose decomposed bodies were found near Pragati Maidan in Delhi yesterday, had been killed on February 26 itself, the day they were kidnapped from their school in Mandawli in East Delhi. The Delhi Police today arrested three men, including an uncle of the children, who revealed to them the gruesome details of the killings.
Police says Amit Singh, the maternal uncle of the children, was the mastermind in the case. Jobless, he wanted to try his hand in the real estate business and had fixed a deal for a flat for Rs 13 lakhs. The owners of the flat wanted Rs 6 lakh as advance, which led Amit Singh to plot a conspiracy, along with two of his friends, to kidnap the children. Amit Singh was under the perception that the children's parents had a lot of money.
Last Tuesday, Amit Singh's friends locked the door of the children's house so that their mother could not reach the school. Amit Singh then went to the school and picked up the children himself.
Thinking it would be tough to keep the children with them as they were insisting on getting back home, the accused decided to kill the children. They took the children near Pragati Maidan, first killed the girl and then the boy by strangling them, and then crushed their bodies with a rock. The bodies were left to be eaten by stray dogs.
The kidnappers had called the parents a few times and demanded Rs. 30 lakh as ransom. They also informed the parents about the place they wanted them to come to with the desired money and fixed the time for meeting twice. The kidnappers had planned to flee once the ransom was delivered, the police said.
The parents, however, did not go to pay the amount hoping the police would nab the culprits.
"We knew that some relative was involved, our prime objective was to recuse the kids but it's unfortunate that we couldn't," the police said in a press conference today.
"After analysing the calls, we realised that the kidnappers were insiders. We wanted to save the children. Hence we did not take any drastic action. We knew that Amit Singh had recently rented a flat behind the family. We picked him up first and he confessed," the police said.
They said that the accused will be charged with kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence.
Speaking on the tragic killings, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that law and order could be a problem, but one could blame it only to an extent. "There might be a lack of law and order. But it only goes so far. We're also responsible for seeing how such instances can be curbed," she said.