The boy went missing on December 1, 2016
Over a year after he went missing from his home in Sahibabad, the decomposed body of a four-year-old boy was found on the terrace of his neighbour’s house on Sunday morning. Police said the body was found in a wooden crate by the victim’s brother, when he went to the terrace to fetch a cricket ball.
Rakesh Kumar Singh, SHO of Sahibabad police station, said they received a call at 10.30 am. “The body was decomposed. The child’s father identified him based on the woollen clothes he had been wearing when he went missing. We are questioning family members and relatives.”
Police had initially arrested two persons from the locality who claimed to have kidnapped the boy for ransom. They were sent to jail and got out on bail after a year. Now, police said it appears the duo might have made a fake ransom call after spotting posters of the missing boy in the area.
The boy, Jaid, went missing on December 1, 2016. His father, Nazar Mohammad, lodged a police complaint. On December 12, he got a call from a man who claimed to have kidnapped his son and and demanded Rs 8 lakh.
On the basis of mobile surveillance, police traced the call and nabbed Irfan and Aftab. During questioning, they confessed to making the call but denied kidnapping the child.
“We have reopened the investigation… and suspect an insider’s role. The terraces are joined. One can only access it from inside the houses. It appears the child was murdered the day he went missing and stuffed in the crate. The lid might have come off during the recent squalls,” Singh added.
The neighbour told police that the boxes were stored on the terrace after his daughter’s wedding in November, 2016.