MADURAI: A man allegedly sodomised his four-year-old nephew before brutally murdering him at Vannivelampatti village near Madurai. The man, Selvam (32), told police he committed the murder to take revenge on his brother, the boy's father, for beating him up a month ago.

Police said after K Muthukrishnan (4) went missing on Monday, his father Kannan, a mason, lodged a complaint. Police, while searching for the boy, found his body buried in a dry irrigation tank near his village on Tuesday morning. Police picked up Kannan's brother Selvam after some villagers said Muthukrishnan was last seen with him. During questioning, Selvam admitted to killing the boy, police said.

Police said Selvam took Muthukrishnan, who was playing in front of his house, to an isolated place on the outskirts of the village by offering him chocolates. After strangling the boy, Selvam dug a pit and buried the body. When Muthukrishnan's parents were searching for him, Selvam feigned ignorance about the boy's whereabouts.

"The man told us he murdered the boy to take revenge on his older brother for beating him up a month ago. But we doubt his claim. We strongly suspect the accused sexually abused the boy and murdered him," said a police officer. Besides murder, Selvam has been booked under two other sections of the IPC, including unnatural offences. He has also been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Selvam told police that two months back, Kannan had given him Rs 200 and asked him to buy ganja. He pocketed Rs 100 and gave his brother ganja worth only Rs 100. When Kannan found out about this, he thrashed Selvam. "He told us he murdered the boy because he was furious with his brother. But we suspect that this is not totally true," the police officer said. Selvam is married and has two daughters. The boy's body has been sent for postmortem examination.