The accused demanded Rs 45 lakh as ransom to release their son.
A court in Mahabubabad district on Friday sentenced a 22-year-old man to death for kidnapping a nine-year-old boy for ransom and murdering him in October 2020.
The district sessions court judge found M Sagar, an automobile mechanic, guilty under relevant IPC sections and awarded him capital punishment.
According to the prosecution, the accused, who was known to the victim's father (a journalist), to make some quick bucks abducted the minor in Mahabubabad town on October 18, 2020.
The accused then took the boy on his bike to a hillock in Annaram village and strangled him to death after giving him sleeping pills fearing that the boy might reveal his identity.
Later, the accused called the boy's parents from his cell phone and demanded Rs 45 lakh as ransom to release their son.
The accused burnt the boy's body to destroy the evidence of murder.
After learning that the boy's father had purchased a property, the accused had hatched a plan to make easy money and committed the crime, police said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)