NEW DELHI: A 34-year-old man was sodomized and then murdered by three juveniles and an adult in the Jaitpur area of southeast Delhi. The three juveniles, along with one Rajkumar (20), have been held.

The deceased, Ram Kishore, was a car workshop owner and is survived by wife and two children. Kishore was returning home on Thursday night when he was waylaid and sodomized by the accused. He was repeatedly hit with a cement bag and then murdered with bricks. Kishore's body was spotted hours later by some passersby, who then informed the police.

"We believe that the accused wanted to rob Kishore to buy drugs. But Kishore was killed after he tried to resist the attempt. Further investigations are on to know the exact cause of murder,'' said a police officer.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2012, a total of 100 juveniles were apprehended in Delhi for committing murder and another 63 for rape. Though the capital has fared better than states like Maharashtra and Bihar, psychologists say its time for some ground action to stop minors from walking the other side of the law.

Besides the juveniles arrested for rape and murder, another 74 were apprehended for attempt to murder and six for the committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder. While 18 others were held for kidnapping and abduction, 10 of them had targeted girls as their victims. 13 juveniles were apprehended for dacoity.

Comparative analysis of figures from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, MP and Maharashtra show that juvenile crimes, in general, have seen a big leap. While 183 juveniles were held in Maharashtra in 2012 for being involved in murder, another 197 have been held in Madhya Pradesh for the same. That these juveniles can be equally gruesome was established recently when a Class 12 student was murdered by his four juvenile friends in Greater Noida, only for the police to recover it 27km ahead at Aligarh.

Woman gang-raped inside car,resident of Seelampur