Boy, 4, who went missing on New Year found dead in grove

BENGALURU: A four-year-old boy who went missing on January 1 was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a eucalyptus grove 300m away from his residence in Doddadunnasandra village near Anugondanahalli, Hoskote, on Thursday.
Police said the body of Reens Kumar was found on Thursday morning and it bore no visible injuries. “We suspect the miscreants may have smothered him to death. We are awaiting the postmortem report to know the exact cause of death,” a police officer said.

Police have registered a case of murder and destruction of evidence based on a complaint by the boy’s father, Sibesh Kumar, who belongs to Gumla, Jharkhand.

Sibesh, his wife Rajamuni Devi and their younger son, Reens, had came to Doddadunnasandra in February 2018 while their elder son stayed back in Jharkhand. Sibesh, who had been working as a labourer at the godown of an online marketing company, quit the job recently and was searching for a new one, said police.

Sibesh clai med he drank heavily on New Year and was resting at his residence. A group of youngsters gathered outside his house and created commotion around 6pm. They dispersed only after the landlord, Channaraya Reddy, arrived and shooed them away. The couple learnt around 6.30pm that their son was missing and searched for him the entire night and the next day.

“They had looked for their son at the eucalyptus grove too. We suspect the boy was killed somewhere else and his body was dumped at the grove later,” said a police officer.

On Thursday morning, some neighbours informed the couple that a boy’s body had been discovered at the grove. They identified their son and informed police. Probe is under way.