Ludhiana, July 7

The body of a 17-year-old-boy, Mohammad Salim, resident of Sandhu Enclave, Tibba road, here was recovered from the Neelon canal yesterday. Salim was allegedly kidnapped by his known persons and thrown into the Neelon canal, near Samrala.

The family, alleging planned murder, got a case registered against nine persons — Naushad, his brother Tony, Channi Tiyagi, his sons Fardin and Abbu, Mubarak, his brother Nayyam, Nayyam and Shoyab, all residents of Tibba.

Complainant Mohammad Musharraf said on July 5 the accused had forcibly taken his brother along with them from outside their house.

“When my brother didn’t reach home, we started searching for him. Next morning, we were informed by some area residents that the accused took Salim toward the Neelon canal. We then lodged a complaint at Samrala where a case was registered against nine persons,” added the complainant.

After the recovery of the body, the accused reached the police station and pleaded innocence.

“Salim was our friend. On July 15, we all went to take a bath in the Neelon canal but unfortunately Salim fell into the canal where water was deep,” they told the police.

Investigation officer SI Joginder Singh said since the boy was kidnapped from the Tibba area, after registering a case at the Samrala police station, the entire case file has been shifted to the Tibba police station for further probe.

The deceased’s brother said they would not perform the last rites until the police arrest the accused. The Tibba police said post-mortem of the deceased would be performed to know the exact cause of death.—TNS