RAIPUR: In a shocking case, a group of minor boys brutally killed their five-year-old friend with a screwdriver over a petty dispute of plucking

from tree in Chhhattisgarh's

. The body of the minor boy was recovered from a pond on Monday after his friends told his family that the boy was abducted by kidnappers and police had begun a search for him.

During investigation, the children broke down and confessed to attacking him on his eye and head with the screwdriver and throwing him in the pond to die.

However, police said that all the children are below seven years of age and no criminal proceedings could be carried forward for children till the age of seven.

According to Janjgir-Champa superintendent of police Parul Mathur, “The five-year-old deceased boy, along with his five friends, all aged below seven years had gone to a nearby pond in Dabhra region to pluck mangoes from a tree on Sunday. One of the main accused who climbed up the tree decided to throw the mangoes down for deceased Sahil to collect, but Sahil, instead, ate one of the mangoes. This infuriated the boy and after getting down from the tree, he started quarrelling with him. As he was carrying a screwdriver along, he took it out from pocket and attacked him on his eyes directly and on his head. This left Sahil bleeding profusely and he fell unconscious which caused the other children to panic.”

For fear of being scolded by his parents, the children helped the main accused drag the unconscious Sahil few metres towards the pond and dumped him in the water body. When Sahil didn’t return home till late, his parents enquired with the friends who said that he was abducted by ‘bacha chor (child kidnapper)’ and they narrated he was stuffed in a gunnysack.

Horrified parents rushed to the police station and reported the matter as a kidnap case when police formed a team and launched the search. Sahil’s body was recovered from the pond on Monday following which continuous questioning of children revealed the real story.

The SP said that versions of all children and the sequence of events matched. The post-mortem report revealed that Sahil died of drowning.

The SP added that though a case under Section 302 for murder was registered, now that the accused involve four children all below seven years, police would go by the law. The IPC states that children below seven years, if get involved in criminal act, can’t be put forward for criminal proceedings as they are too young to decipher the act is criminal. In case of children involving 7-12 years of age, the case will be taken on merit of an individual’s maturity parameter, for punishment. The SP said that the present case lodged would be, hence, void.