A day after a six-year-old boy’s mutilated body was found in a vacant plot in DLF Phase 1, the police said they suspected the involvement of a 12-year-old — who was last seen with the victim — in the incident.

Police said a preliminary investigation had revealed that the victim had kicked the suspect boy while playing kabaddi which took an augly turn, and they fought after that, the police said.

The officers involved in the investigation also said that the boy’s killing could be related to an occult practice.

Karan Goyal, assistant commissioner of police (DLF), said that the murder could be linked to tantric rituals. “The genitals of the deceased had been cut off as revealed by the post-mortem report. So we cannot rule out the possibility of sexual assault. Our teams are investigating and we have recorded the statements of the suspects,” he said.

Dr Deepak Mathur, forensic expert at Civil Hospital who conducted the post mortem, said that a deep injury to the head appears to have caused the death.

“The body was chopped with a sharp object. The missing body parts could not have been eaten by animals, because then the police would have recovered bones from the spot. We cannot rule out sexual assault,” Mathur said.

The boy had gone missing on Monday after which the matter was reported to the police. Police said the body was identified by the father. “We have taken DNA sample of the boy to match with the father. It takes around 45 days to get the report of the DNA test, but we will try and expedite,” said Mathur.

The DLF Phase 1 police has registered a murder case based on the statement of the boy’s father.

According to the police, they had called three members of a family from the area — including a 12-year-old — for questioning on Wednesday. “The family members and neighbours had raised suspicion on the 12-year-old as he was seen with the victim. One of the locals had spotted them going towards the spot from where the body was later recovered,” Goyal said.

Police have deployed teams near the suspect’s house and are monitoring their movements. Several police and crime teams are working on the case. Police said they had recreated the
crime scene and a dog squad also visited the spot. The dog squad led the police to the house of the suspect.

“The exercise was repeated twice and both the times the dog squad led the team to the same hut,” said Goyal adding that they have enough circumstantial and scientific evidence against the suspects. No CCTV footage has been recovered by the police yet.

The family members of the victim have accused the police of inaction. The body, they said, was found by the neighbours on Tuesday after they started a search operation on their own.

“We had approached the police but they did not pay any heed to our complaint. We searched at all the possible locations but had no idea that the body was dumped in the forest area. My neighbours found his body parts and informed police,” said the father of the victim.

Police, however, refuted allegations of inaction and said they had formed teams immediately after the complaint being lodged and had conducted a search operation in the area.

The police have recorded the statements of the everyone who had spotted the victim with the 12-year-old.

“My five-year-old nephew was playing with my son when the 12-year-old came and offered them biscuits. He asked them to come along with him, but my nephew refused. My son, however, accompanied the boy,” said the father.

A barber, who has his shop near the slums where the family lives, told the police that he had seen the victim holding a packet of biscuit and going towards the park with another boy.

Goyal said that the police are taking opinions from the forensic expert team who visited the spot and collected samples, the doctor who conducted the post-mortem examination, as well as from the dog squad.

First Published: Apr 04, 2019 03:15 IST