In a grisly revenge story, thirteen people, many of whom were minors themselves, banded together to sexually assault and stab a 14-year-old boy to death for allegedly informing a rival gang member.
The boy who was found dumped in a Delhi canal on July 1 had 24 stab wounds and blunt force injuries to his private parts, a police official said Friday.
Ten people involved in the crime that was allegedly committed on the intervening night of June 29-30, including the main accused, Krishna alias Bhola (19), are in police custody.
Three of them were apprehended from a Kanwar camp in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, where police disguised themselves as kanwariyas on July 18.
Krishna allegedly planned to carry out the murder as he believed the victim was an informer of his rivals, the Badhwar brothers -- Monu and Sonu -- who had him assaulted last year.
The Badhwar brothers are currently in jail after they were charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for several illegal activities that include illegal liquor trade and robberies.
The case dates back to July 1, when a PCR call was received at 3.10 pm at Samaypur Badli Police Station regarding a body.
"A young male dead body, which was slightly decomposed, was found lying completely naked with a scarf wrapped around its neck in Munak Canal and several stab wounds all over the body," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North) Hareshwar Swami said.
He was later identified as a 14-year-old boy, and a case under 103 (1) (murder) and 238 (b) (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen an offender) of the BNS was registered.
The post-mortem report, however, revealed the brutal nature of the crime.
"The post-mortem reports revealed that there were 24 stab wounds on his body, a senior officer said.
The reports also mentioned "blunt force in the anus", which confirmed that the boy was sexually assaulted, too, he said.
Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which deals with aggravated penetrative sexual assault, has now been added to the case.
Police traced three absconding accused in Haridwar trying to pass off as Kanwar yatris.
"We were able to track one of the minors through his social media activity. From Haridwar, three accused, identified as Monu and two minors, had come to Meerut in the Kanwar Yatra. They were staying in the Kanwar camp in Meerut," the officer added.
Police also disguised themselves as kanwariyas and entered the camp to avoid any untoward incident. "We nabbed them on the night of July 18 with the help of the local police and a team that was dispatched from Delhi," he added.
During interrogation, they allegedly confessed to the crime and revealed the identity of three more accused - Deepak, Chandan and Sachin - and efforts to arrest were ongoing, the officer said.
Police said they found that the accused had allegedly taken turns to stab the victim.
Police are also working with the legal team to ensure maximum punishment for the accused, given the heinous nature of the crime.
Since most of the accused are minors, we will appeal to the court to treat those above the age of 16 as adults, the officer said.
The officer said Krishna had been planning to avenge the assault on him that happened around Diwali last year for a long time. He suspected that the victim and a couple of his friends were the Badhwar's informers.
On the intervening night of June 29-30, Krishna and his associates arranged knives, waylaid the victim near Veer Chowk Bazar, beat him up and then abducted him in front of his friends on a motorcycle.
He was taken to a spot near the Munak Canal where he was stripped, stabbed and sexually assaulted, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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