Boy slits throat of 13-year-old friend on Delhi-Meerut Expressway, 'to be in jail to skip studies'

GHAZIABAD: A 16-year-old boy was detained for allegedly slitting the throat of his 13-year-old friend on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in Masuri in cold blood on Monday evening. The boy, police said, had been plotting the murder for the past five months just so he could end up in a shelter home and escape studies.
On Monday evening, he allegedly lured his friend on the pretext of watching cars cruise down the DME. There, he picked up a piece of glass lying on the road and slit his friend's throat, police said. He then threw the body in the bushes off the expressway and fled.
The friend was a resident of Masuri and a Class 7 student in a private school. His father works as a labourer in a factory. The son of a property dealer, the 16-year-old studies in a different school and lives in the same locality.
Iraj Raja, the SP (rural), said around 5pm on Monday, police received a call informing them that the body of a boy was found near the DME. "A police team rushed to the spot. After an hour, we identified the body and informed his parents," he said.
"The parents told us that at 3pm, his friend had come to their house and taken the boy with him. So, we started to trace the minor's friend and sent a team to his house. But he was not there. His parents didn't have any idea about the incident either or his whereabouts. At 7pm, we found him near a tea shop outside the Masuri police station," Raja said. The boy, the police said, was planning to surrender if the cops didn't come looking for him.
When he was quizzed, he narrated what he had done and pleaded not to be beaten up. "He revealed that his parents would force him to study, but he didn't want to continue. He had watched a few movies and had been plotting the murder for the past five months," Raja said, adding that his parents had to change his school three times because he could not pass the exams and get promoted to the next class.
"The boy he targeted was frail. So, he kept meeting him over the past week so that they would get acquainted with each other all the more," the SP said.
Akash Patel, ASP and circle officer, said that a month ago, the 16-year-old had tried to kill another friend but couldn't muster the courage. "We have registered a complaint under IPC Section 302 (murder) and relevant provisions of the SC/ST Act," he said.