Inspired by crime show, man kidnaps & kills 10-yr-old, held

A month after a 10-year-old boy was kidnapped and murdered in South Delhi’s Maidan Garhi, police have arrested a 22-year-old man, who was his mother’s friend, for the crime.

The boy went missing from his home in Sanjay Colony on November 28 and his partially burnt body was found Thursday.

Police said the accused, Bittu Singh, wanted to marry the boy’s mother. According to police, Singh, inspired by a TV show, allegedly planned to kidnap and kill the child. Police said he also allegedly tried to burn the body to destroy evidence.

DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said they received a missing persons report from the boy’s mother on November 28. “We were told that the boy went to a store to buy food but didn’t return. The boy’s parents were separated and there was a dispute over the child’s custody… All CCTVs in the area were scanned but we didn’t find anything,” said the DCP.

On Thursday, nearly a month later, police found a “highly decomposed” and “partially burnt” body near a pond in Maidan Garhi. The boy’s parents later identified the body. “When questioned, the mother then spoke about a friend named Singh who often gave gifts to her son,” said a senior police officer.

When Singh was questioned on Thursday, he allegedly confessed that he killed the child.

The accused told the police that he has known the victim’s mother since childhood but their parents were against the marriage. After the woman separated from her husband, the accused proposed marriage but she said she can’t because of her child.

Police said the accused, after watching a crime show, allegedly planned to kill the child. “On November 28, he took the child in an auto on the pretext of buying him berries. They went to a forest where Singh strangled the child with a scarf. He then dumped the body in a pond,” said DCP Thakur.

A day later, he went back to the spot and hid the body under rocks. “He tried to burn the body with fuel but he failed because it was wet. The accused then removed clothes from the body, put it in a plastic bag and dumped it in the river,” said the police.