New Delhi, Nov 20: The body of a 13-year-old son of an east Delhi jeweller was found near a drain in Geeta Colony on Wednesday morning, a day after the boy was abducted while walking home from school and the family received a ransom demand of Rs 1 crore.
The boy, Utkarsh, was an eighth standard student of Vivekanand School in Anand Vihar. He was smothered and then strangled, police said. Utkarsh was last seen on Tuesday afternoon by neighbours, who said he was walking home after being dropped by the school cab. No arrests have been made so far.
Cops claimed they have some leads in the case of kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Utkarsh. The special cell has been roped in for the investigations and the cops said a family acquaintance may have a role in the crime.
They said the boy was most likely killed because the abductors feared he would identify them.
The tragedy struck even as the family was getting ready to celebrate the marriage of Utkarsh's elder brother, scheduled for next month.
Police believe the abduction plan was hatched a month ago. A number beginning with 8447 came into use on October 21 just to make the ransom calls. No other numbers were dialed by the abductors, a source in the investigating team said. The movement of this suspect, along with local criminals and employees of the jeweller, are being verified.
When the boy did not return from school on Tuesday, Utkarsh's mother, Mamta Verma, informed her husband, Mukesh. His shop is in Raghupura, just a few kilometres away. Mukesh rushed home and called his neighbours to help him look for the child. They decided to inform the police around 4pm.
A case of kidnapping was registered and five teams were deployed to look for the child. Cops searched the adjoining houses and even retrieved CCTV footages from a nearby school which showed the boy
walking towards his house but no other leads were obtained. Around 7pm, Mamta received the first ransom call on her mobile phone.
"The kidnappers asked us to arrange for Rs 1 crore and wait for the next call," said Subh Kanth, Mukesh's cousin.
As police started tracking the location of the phone, the next call was received around half an hour later in which the kidnappers asked Mukesh not to inform the police.
"They said that they would let us know by the next morning where the ransom was to be delivered," he said.
The parents managed to arrange for the money by 8pm. They even tried calling back the number but it was switched off. The cops, meanwhile, set up trackers to locate the caller but he disconnected the call within a few seconds.
On Wednesday morning, residents of block 12, Geeta Colony, reported finding the body of a boy lying dead face down beside a drain near the local gurudwara.
Seema, a Geeta Colony resident, first spotted the body and alerted local shopkeepers who informed the police. "The boy was wearing his school uniform, a white shirt and blue trousers. Half his face was in the drain water," she said. The body was later identified as that of Utkarsh.
Doctors said the boy was smothered and then strangled. Doctors also found traces of blood on his teeth and scratch marks on his body, suggesting that he tried to resist the killers and even bit one of them.
Utkarsh was the youngest child in the family. His sister Kanika is married in the US and brother Rishav assists his father at the family jewellery shop.
"Kanika had come from the US late on Monday night, when Utkarsh was asleep. She did not meet him the next morning as Utkarsh left for school early. After that, he went missing and now he is dead," said Ram Prakash, Utkarsh's uncle.
He said Utkarsh's mother was not told about the death till the body was brought back after postmortem. "She was hoping that we would bring back the child by evening. We did not have the guts to tell her about the death," he said.
The family had moved into their house in Gandhi Nagar last year, Prakash said.
Meanwhile as news of the murder spread in the colony, locals staged a protest. They blocked the Gandhi Nagar road demanding security for children in the area.
"There is no neighbourhood watch scheme in the area nor is there a police patrol during the day. The area has become unsafe over the past few years due to the presence of anti-social elements in the area," said Shyam Sundar Agarwal, president of the RWA, Rajgarh colony.
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