15-year old boy kidnapped, murdered in Hyderabad

An organised gang of kidnappers right in the heart of the city, and that too in spite of the presence of surveillance cameras, the body of a 15-year-old boy was found stuffed in a carton that was left near a prominent hotel close to the Secunderabad Railway Station, after he was kidnapped on Wednesday. Abhay, one of twins and a Class X student of Slate School, was reported to be missing from 4 pm on Wednesday evening.

He was last seen near his residence at Sree Colony in Shahinayatgunj. The police suspect that the boy was smothered to death after the kidnapper made a ransom call to the victim’s parents. Rajkumar, father of the deceased boy, told the police that he received a call from the abductors around 10 pm seeking Rs 10 crore as ransom for the boy’s release.

Rajkumar, a plastic scrap dealer at Kattedan, lodged a complaint with the Shahinayatgunj police on Wednesday around 7.30 pm and mentioned that his son’s mobile phone was switched off, 10 minutes after he left the house. “As the boy



didn’t return home, parents searched in the locality and approached the police. Even as the police started inquiring about the boy, the boy’s aunt -– father’s brother’s wife -- reportedly got a phone call seeking ransom, DCP (West) A Venkateshwar Rao, who visited the spot on receipt of information with his team, said.

Police examination of the video footage of surveillance cameras in a lane close to their house showed a stranger following the boy who was riding a scooter to collect idlis from a nearby hotel. Later, the stranger was seen riding the two-wheeler while Abhay sat on the pillion. The police finally traced the call to Secunderabad area. Special police teams have started searching for the suspects. The carton with the boy’s body inside was found around 11 pm.

The Clues team and a dog squad were pressed into service to gather evidence from the spot. A case has been registered under Section 302 of the IPC, following which the body was shifted to Gandhi Hospital for postmortem.