Five minor students of a madrasa in Odisha's Nayagarh district were arrested for allegedly killing a 12-year-old boy of the institution and dumping his body into a septic tank, an officer said today.
The incident occurred on September 2 at a madrasa located within the Ranpur police station limits of Nayagarh district.
The police registered a case on September 3, and the accused boys - aged 12 to 15 years - were taken into custody on Saturday, a senior police officer, Subhas Chandra Panda, told reporters.
The preliminary investigation revealed the boy, who is from Badamba area in Cuttack district, had apparently threatened seniors that he would expose their sexual abuse of junior students.
The boy was allegedly sexually abused by a senior student of the madrasa for the last six months. There was also an attempt to kill him also on August 31, the officer said.
After recovering the body of the victim from the septic tank, initially it appeared an accident, Mr Panda said. Later, evidence showed he was physically tortured and killed. "It was learnt that the victim was sexually abused by two senior boys, including the 15-year-old senior inmate of the madrasa, before being killed and his body dumped into the septic tank," the ASP said.
The boy was strangled by the prime accused and his four associates. "All five were taken into custody and produced before a court," the officer said. A case was registered under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, murder charge and POCSO Act.
While three boys have been charged with murder, one for murder and under POCSO Act and another one only under POCSO Act.
The accused were shifted to a juvenile correctional facility at Angul.
(With inputs from Dev Kumar)
