They have been presented before a juvenile justice board. (Representational)
Five teenagers were detained in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district on Saturday for allegedly kidnapping a school boy and later killing him, police officials said. The teenagers, one of whom studied in the same school as the seven-year-old victim, had kidnapped the boy for ransom. They were inspired by a popular crime show on TV, they said.
They are aged 15 and 16 years and study in Class 10, Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar said. "The boy was picked up by the teenagers from his school on July 9 and then taken to Aligarh where they choked him to death using a handkerchief. They then dumped his body in a river which was recovered later, leading to an investigation into the matter," Mr Kumar said.
An FIR was first lodged under IPC section 363 (missing) on the basis of a complaint by the child's father, who lives in Shekhupur village under Chhatari police station limits. "After the probe and findings, the accused were booked under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) also," the police said.
SSP Kumar said one of the teenagers had mistakenly lost Rs 40,000 while carrying out a financial transaction and was worried about it. He later narrated his ordeal to his friends after which they all decided to kidnap a child from the school for ransom to make up for his loss, Mr Kumar said. "On July 9, the victim was among the first few students to reach the school. The accused had not specifically planned to kidnap him but he was picked up since he reached the school early and there were not many people at the time," the IPS officer said.
"The teenager who also studied in the same school saw the boy playing outside his class and then took him to the boundary of the school where his other associates, who studied in a different school, were already present," he said.
From there, the two accused took the boy on a motorcycle to Aligarh while the other reached there by bus. They had taken the boy to Aligarh because one of the accused had a house there and the boy was kept hostage there, the officer said. However, later the teenagers panicked thinking what they would do if their plan does not succeed and thought they might land in trouble, he added.
"In panic, they decided to kill him and dumped his body in a river. They threw his handkerchief in bushes in an isolated area and returned to Bulandshahr," Mr Kumar said.
The next day the child's body was found from the river in Aligarh and he was identified as the boy missing from Bulandshahr, he said.
"After this more policemen were put on the case. Six teams were formed which analysed over 100 CCTV footages and questioned more than 200 people in connection with the case," the SSP said.
The police ultimately cracked the case and apprehended them, who have also admitted to the crime, the officer claimed.
"They initially tried to mislead the police and concocted various stories about the disappearance of the boy. However, eventually they admitted committing the crime and also revealed how they got inspired by a popular crime show on TV for planning the kidnapping," Kumar said.
They have been presented before a juvenile justice board for further legal action in the case, he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)