12-year-old boy kidnapped by mom’s partner found dead in well in Sangamner; accused dies by suicide

Pune: The search for a missing 12-year-old boy, who was allegedly taken from school by his mother's live-in partner on Dec 11, took a tragic turn when his body was found at the bottom of an abandoned well near Rajapur in Sangamner taluka, on Tuesday evening.

Police traced the body to the well after the partner was found hanging inside a house located nearby, the same morning.

Investigators told TOI that the boy's mother had separated from his father five years ago and was living with the partner in Sangamner, along with the boy and his 13-year-old sister.

"But their relationship was a rocky one; they had frequent quarrels. Last year, the partner [a known criminal] had assaulted the boy's mother after he suspected her of having an affair. At the time, Sangamner police had registered an 'attempt to murder' case for the assault. A trial is pending in the case," said inspector Netaji Gandhare of Pargaon (Khandala) police station.

Gandhare said the woman then began living separately from the partner, fearing the quarrels were impacting her two children. "She took them to her husband's home in Ambegaon's Nirgudsar, and kept them there. She began living in Manchar. But her partner kept up pressure on her to withdraw the assault complaint against him. We suspect it's because of this reason that he kidnapped the boy on Dec 11, from the school in Nirgudsar," Gandhare said.

On Dec 11, the boy's father lodged a missing person's complaint with Pargaon (Khandala) police, after he was told by school staffers that the boy had told a teacher he was leaving with an "acquaintance" from Sangamner. "They left the school around 12.30pm. The complainant's sister also told the father that the same person who collected the boy from school had approached her earlier asking about the child," Gandhare said, adding that police have retrieved CCTV footage from the school showing the man and the boy leaving the premises.

Following the father's kidnapping complaint, the cops went to work, along with personnel from the local crime branch. They first visited Sangamner and Manchar, but were unable to trace the mother's partner and the boy. "The man's mobile phone was not reachable either," Gandhare said.

But on Tuesday morning, the search took a drastic turn when the partner's body was found hanging on the first floor of his home in Ghulewadi in Sangamner taluka. According to police officials, he likely came home the night before and hung himself.

"We have recovered what seems like a suicide note from the house. In it, he mentioned the boy's mother by name, but nothing about the child," Gandhare said.

Besides the note, the police had also recovered the man's mobile phone from the house. "We went through his list of calls, and managed to round up a few of his contacts for questioning. It was one of them who told us that while he was drinking, the man confided in him that he had murdered the boy and thrown the body into the dry well," Gandhare added.

The police officer said based on the condition of the body, investigators suspect the child was murdered within a day or two of his kidnapping. "We found him in a highly decomposed state. After the kidnapping, the man made calls to the boy's mother, telling her that he would release him if she withdrew the assault charge and come back to live with him," Gandhare said.


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