Surat: Investigation in to the kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old painter’s son has revealed that the accused is an alcoholic who sought to take revenge after being unable to recover Rs 7,000 he had loaned to the boy’s father.
Police arrested Karan alias Aditya Chauhan and Barkat Ali alias Sonu on Saturday after detecting their involvement in the killing of Aakash Sahani. The accused were produced in court on Sunday which allowed questioning of the accused in jail custody.
Chauhan and Barkat used to earn a living doing painting jobs like the father of the deceased boy, Kishan. In fact, Chauhan was their neighbour in Khodiyar Nagar. Police said that Chauhan was an alcoholic but had no money to buy liquor from lack of sufficient work.
Chauhan had lent Kishan Rs 14,000 before lockdown as the latter’s relatives had died while he had gone to Gorakhpur, his native in Uttar Pradesh. As Kishan requested Chauhan to lend him the money over phone, Chauhan transferred Rs 14,000 in Kishan’s bank account.
After lockdown, Chauhan demanded his money back after he started facing financial crisis due to unemployment. Kishan repaid half the amount and Chauhan kept asking for the remaining amount. Due to the repeated demands, Chauhan and Kishan also had several altercations recently. This spiked Chauhan to plot the kidnapping of Kishan’s son.
Chauhan took Aakash along with him on motorcycle to Barkat’s home in Sayan village near the city. He didn’t tell Barkat about his nefarious plans but asked him to accompany them. Later Chauhan strangled the child to death in a sugarcane farm. Police said that Barkat saw the crime taking place but did not stop Chauhan.