A journalist’s nine-year-old son, who was kidnapped for ransom three days ago in Mahaboobabad town (220 km from Hyderabad), was found murdered on Thursday.
Special police teams, which had been trying to rescue the boy, caught one of the abductors late on Wednesday. During interrogation, the kidnapper admitted to the police that he and three of his associates murdered the boy on the day he was kidnapped.
He led the police to the body that was abandoned in the forest area of Poosalapally Thanda near Mahaboobabad town. The abductors were known to the boy’s parents. The person caught by the police was identified as Sagar.
Screengrab of video footage of the boy being taken away by the kidnapper on his bike. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
He told the police that the boy identified one of them. As the boy repeatedly insisted on releasing him, they gave him a sleeping pill and later burnt the body by pouring petrol on it.
The police are on the lookout for the others involved. “The abductors continued to make calls demanding ₹45 lakh as ransom even after killing the boy. They planned to flee after receiving the money,” a police officer supervising the investigation said.
The police had difficulty in locating the abductors as they were making ransom calls using Voice Over Internet Protocol. Continuing their efforts, they picked up a lead and caught Sagar.