Mumbai:
Desperate after losing Rs. 30 lakh in illegal betting in the ongoing Indian Premier League, an MBA graduate along with an accomplice in Mumbai kidnapped his 13-year-old cousin, hoping to recover the money as ransom from his affluent parents. However, when the parents of the boy informed the police, the accused panicked and brutally killed the teenager.
The police say the main accused Himanshu Ranka and his accomplice Bijesh Sanghvi, also an MBA graduate, planned the kidnapping after losing cricket bets in three places.
They hatched the plan over a week ago when Himanshu found out his uncle had Rs 30 lakhs.
On Monday, Himanshu pretending to be a friend of 13-year-old Aditya's father called the teenager and asked him to collect the keys of his father's office.
Later in the afternoon, Aditya's family received a ransom call demanding Rs. 30 lakh, following which his father, Jitendra Ranka, approached the police. Himanshu even accompanied his uncle to the police station.
On his way back after meeting a senior police officer, Mr Ranka discovered a pair of slippers that he had bought for Aditya from Dubai in a car that Himanshu had hired from a friend.
Mr Ranka immediately alerted the cops who seized the car and found blood stains under its bonnet.
Himanshu told the police that Bijesh, had first taken Aditya to Sion in central Mumbai and then to the Raigad district of Maharashtra.
After learning that the family had alerted the police, the two men decided to kill Aditya, and Bijesh slit his wrist.
Later, when Bijesh discovered that Aditya was still alive, he took him to Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai and set him ablaze on dry grass. The police found the charred remains of Aditya's body there.