Inspired By TV Show, 5 Teens Kill 7-Year-Old Boy In Uttar Pradesh: Cops

A senior cop said one of the teenagers had mistakenly lost Rs 40,000 while carrying out a financial transaction and was worried about it, he later told his friends after which they decided to kidnap a child.

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.