india

Updated: Jul 16, 2019 23:22 IST

A woman and her son were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing a three-year-old child whose half burnt body was found in an abandoned house 50 metres away from his home in a village on the outskirts of Bhopal on Tuesday, police said.

The police interrogated the woman after villagers said that she was seen near the abandoned house. Police said she confessed during interrogation.

Sunita Solanki (42) who resides in the same neighbourhood committed the crime with the help of her 20-year-old son Shubham Solanki to take a revenge on the boy’s father Vipin Meena as she suspected him of being involved in a theft in her house, police said.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Bhopal Irshad Wali said the woman and her son killed Varun by giving him poison.

“After killing Varun, Sunita hid the boy’s body in a wheat container. On Tuesday morning, she with help of her son set the body afire in an abandoned house of the village and fled from the spot,” Wali said.

“Sunita said last month valuables and Rs 30,000 were stolen by Vipin Meena, father of the child, from her home and despite asking repeatedly, he did not admit it. To take revenge, she gave poison to Varun,” said Wali.

Before the needle of suspicion turned against them, Sunita and Shubham were seen offering water and tea to police personnel for the past two days. Police said even her husband and younger son did not suspect that the duo had murdered a child.

Police said they found the body on Tuesday afternoon during patrolling and Vipin Meena identified it as that of his son Varun. The body was found covered in a piece of cloth in an abandoned house in Bairagarh Chichli village.

Vipin, a farmer, filed a complaint with the police after Varun did not return home Sunday evening. The police formed a search team for the child and deployed a large number of personnel in the village.

The child’s grandfather Narayan Meena, who is a forest guard, said Varun had gone out to buy chocolates but he never returned.

“Varun was kidnapped when he was going to a nearby shop to buy chocolates on Sunday evening. On the same evening, a few people in a SUV hit the forest post to flee from the spot. Police suspected that the boy was kidnapped in the same SUV but nobody even thought that he could be kidnapped by a resident of the same village,” Narayan Meena said.