Kidnapped Delhi boy killed in Meerut, one held

NEW DELHI - A 10-year-old boy who was kidnapped two weeks back from east Delhi was found dead in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh even though his parents had arranged the ransom money demanded by the abductors. The boy’s cousin has been held for the crime, police said.

The boy, Chetan, went missing Jan 3 while he was playing outside his home in Kalyanpuri area. After searching for him the whole night, his father Bhanwari Shankar registered a police complaint.

“A missing complaint was registered on January 4 at Kalyanpuri police station,” a police officer said.

Shankar then got a call Jan 5 from the kidnappers. “A woman said over phone that if we want our son alive we should bring Rs.1 lakh to Meerut the very next day and threatened to kill him if we informed the police. We rushed there but they didn’t pick up our call,” Chetan’s grief-stricken mother Savitri told IANS.

Shankar keep trying the phone and then informed the police. “The woman picked up the phone and said that three people - Devi Ram, Ashok and Surendra - were involved in the kidnapping as Devi Ram, Chetan’s cousin, wanted money,” Savitri added.

Devi Ram, 22, had some financial dispute with Chetan’s family, police said.

Devi Ram was arrested from Kalyanpuri area Monday and during interrogation, he told the police that he and his associates had killed and buried Chetan in Meerut two days after they kidnapped him, a police officer said.

The accused used to come back to his home in Kalyanpuri area to avoid suspicion.

A police team from Delhi went to Meerut Tuesday morning and recovered Chetan’s body. While his body has been sent for post-mortem, police are still looking for Ashok and Surendra who are absconding.

Chetan was a Class 4 student of Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Kalyanpuri.