Minor kidnapped, killed in Jodhpur

JODHPUR: Two minors and a youth were arrested on Sunday for kidnapping and murdering another minor. One of them was a neighbour of the victim. He had masterminded the crime. The trio kidnapped the child near his home on Friday night and took him to Balotara on a motorcycle. They killed him the same night to avoid identification before making a ransom call to the victim’s house on Saturday afternoon.
According to the ADCP, Jyoti Swaroop Sharma, the victim, Govind Mali (14), a student of Class VIII, went missing on Friday night.This was reported to the police the same night. “On Saturday afternoon, father of Govind, who is a two-wheeler mechanic, received a ransom call from the kidnappers demanding Rs 5 lakh and warned him of losing his son if he informed the police,” said Sharma. A case of kidnapping was registered and an investigation begun. The phone number from which the kidnappers called was found to be false.
“We sent teams in various directions based on some clues, including Balotara. During investigation the needle of suspicion pointed to one Shivraj who was the victim’s neighbour. We arrested him from Balotara on Sunday morning and found the body of Govind stuffed in a gunny bag in a drain on the outskirts of Balotara,” Sharma said.
Based on Shivraj’s interrogation, police arrested two more youths Lalit, cousin of Shivraj who lives in Balotara, and Ganpat Ram, his friend, the only adult among the three from Jodhpur on Sunday morning. All confessed to kidnapping Govind for ransom and strangulating him.
“We have seized the motorcycle and mobile phone used by the criminals. Lalit and Shivraj will be produced in the Juvenile Justice Board being minors. Shivraj used to run a barber shop near victim’s house whereas Lalit and Ganpat were unemployed,” the police said.