Odisha: Abducted Jharsuguda boy was tortured before his murder, says police

BHUBANESWAR: The 15-year-old class X student from Jharsuguda, who was kidnapped and killed before ransom calls went to his family was tortured by a former neighbour before his death, police said on Thursday.
Samarth Agarwal's kidnappers left his charred body on a riverside near Bheden in Bargarh district on Tuesday.
What initially came as a surprise for the police was the fact that CCTV footage showed the main accused Amit Sharma, 46, riding pillion on Samarth's e-scooter on Monday afternoon.
An officer involved in the investigation said Amit, whom Samarth knew very well and called 'chacha' and Amit's associate Dinesh Agarwal, 41, came in a motorcycle and stopped Samarth, barely a few metres from his house.
Amit rode pillion to Samarth, promising to give him some latest cricket kits. Dinesh followed them in the motorcycle to Gandhi Chowk in Brajarajnagar where they shifted to a car, kept there according to their plans.
After driving for some distance, when Samarth got suspicious and became restless, they tied him with ropes and gagged him, police said.
Driving by Hirakud dykes, they packed food from a roadside eatery near Sambalpur University for dinner on Monday night.
Early next day, they bought petrol in a jar, killed him and burnt him. Onlookers noticed the body around 8.30 am after which police identified him.
'Premature to confirm exact motive'
Dinesh, with whom Samarth's family is not familiar, made the ransom calls twice, first on Monday evening and again on Tuesday evening. Though the family showed willingness to pay the money, he didn't specify how.
Jharsuguda SP Smit Parmar said the motive is yet to be ascertained as they killed the boy without waiting for the ransom. "It will be premature to confirm the exact motive," he said. Police sources said though Samarth's father Sunit and accused Amit were neighbours till three years ago, Sunit with his auto parts business did well financially but Amit was struggling with his marble business.
The SP said the post-mortem was done on Wednesday and its result are awaited. Samples have also been sent for DNA test of the deceased for identification since the body was charred, he added.
(With inputs from Ritesh Sharma in Jharsuguda)