In Madhya Pradesh's Indore, the chilling murder of a 13-year-old boy has stunned everyone. The suspect strangled the child eight times with a nylon rope, smashed his face with a brick, and then hid the body inside a bed box. The accused made his ailing grandmother sleep on top of it to avoid suspicion.
According to investigators, the crime was committed after the accused allegedly attempted to sexually assault the minor. When the boy resisted and raised an alarm, he was brutally killed. The murder took place on Saturday on the roof of a six-storey building, barely 30 metres from the boy's house. To conceal the crime, the body was later shifted and hidden in a fourth-floor flat.
Police said the boy, a Class 8 student, went missing from outside his home around 7:30 pm on Friday. When he failed to return late at night, family members launched a frantic search and eventually lodged a missing person complaint with the police.
DCP Prateek Kumar said that "information about the child's disappearance was received by the police late at night, following which a crime was registered and an investigation was immediately initiated. Early the next morning, police received fresh inputs during the search, which led them to the rooftop of a nearby building where the child's jacket was found. Bloodstains were also noticed at the spot. During the investigation, police detained two key accused, one an adult and the other a minor. Both are currently being questioned in detail. Preliminary findings indicate that the child was playing in the same building when the crime took place. After killing the boy, the accused hid the body inside a bed in the same premises in an attempt to avoid detection."
CCTV footage provided the first crucial breakthrough, showing the boy entering a nearby building. During a joint search by police and family members, officers found a blood-stained jacket on the rooftop. Blood was also discovered at three to four locations, indicating efforts to wipe away evidence.
In a chilling twist, police said the prime accused, Rehan (21), was moving around with the police team during the search. His behaviour appeared evasive, and officers noticed scratch marks on his hands and neck. Rehan claimed the injuries were from machinery at work, but verification revealed he had not been to the workshop for four months.
Under sustained interrogation, Rehan broke down and confessed. He told police that the boy's body had been hidden inside a bed box. When officers removed his grandmother from the bed and opened it, they found the boy's body wrapped in a blanket. A murder case was immediately registered, and Rehan was arrested.
