BAREILLY: A man, 26, accused of sodomising, killing and then hanging a four-year-old boy’s body from a tree in July this year was allegedly traced and lynched with batons and bricks by the child’s relatives in Bareilly district on Wednesday evening. The accused was on the run for the last over three months and local police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on any information leading to his arrest.
Posters carrying photos of the accused, Prempal, were also put up at several places by police. But the relatives of the slain child caught up with the accused even before local police could.
According to police, Prempal was hiding in Aonla, Bareilly district. He was caught and brutally attacked with batons and bricks by a group of men, allegedly the relatives of the boy. Two of them were later arrested.
Prempal was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Bareilly, Rohit Singh Sajwan, told TOI, “Prempal, who was wanted in the sexual assault and murder of a 4-year-old boy, was beaten to death by a few people in Aonla area on Wednesday. He was on the run since July and we had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest. We have arrested two persons in the lynching case and both of them are the relatives of the boy. An FIR has been registered against two identified and several unidentified people for murder.”
The four-year-old boy went missing on July 13 soon after he stepped out to play. He was last seen playing with Prempal, who had come to his home along with a few relatives of the family a day earlier. Initially the family thought that Prempal had abducted the child for ransom.
But, a few hours later, they found the child’s body hanging from a tree outside the village. Post-mortem examination confirmed sexual assault and Prempal went missing. Police had registered an FIR under IPC sections 302 (murder), sections 377 (unnatural offences), 364 (kidnapping), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and under section 4/5 of POCSO Act against him.