SURAT: A painter living in Bhatar had to repay with his nine-year-old son’s life for not returning Rs 7,000 borrowed from his friend during the lockdown.
The boy, Aakash Sahani, was kidnapped from Khodiyarnagar locality in Bhatar on Friday night, and his body was found in a sugarcane field on Olpad-Sayan Road on Saturday. Police detained the assailants, Karan alias Aaditya and Barkat Ali alias Sonu, who also work as painters. The duo allegedly kidnapped the boy on a bike and later thrashed and strangulated him to death, police said.
Aakash’s father Kishan had lodged a complaint of kidnapping in Khatodara police station after the the family and friends failed to trace him.
Police examined the CCTV footage in Bhatar and saw a man taking a boy on a motorcycle. Police showed the footage to Kishan who identified Karan, who lives in his neighbouring house. After Aakash had gone missing, Kishan had called up Karan on his mobile phone several times and asked him to help trace the boy, but the latter returned late at night. Police nabbed Karan early on Saturday and he confessed to the crime during detailed interrogation. Later he took police to the farm where the body was dumped.
After kidnapping Aakash on his bike, Karan took him to Sayan Road to hand over groceries to Barkat. Later, Karan and Barkat took the boy to a farm and killed him. Aakash may have agreed to go with Karan as the latter used to take him out to buy chocolates many times.
“So far, we have found that Kishan was not returning Rs 7,000 to Karan. Recently, Karan had again asked Kishan to return the money as he needed cash for Chhath Puja celebration. Kishan promised to return in the few days and even offered to mortgage the jewellery to repay the money” said a police officer at Khatodara police station. Karan and Kishan were both facing financial crises due to limited work. Both did painting jobs and since the lockdown, they were not getting enough work.