india

Updated: Apr 05, 2019 08:35 IST

The police caught a 12-year-old boy on Thursday for allegedly killing a six-year-old in a fit of rage in a forest area near a five-star hotel in Gurugram’s DLF Phase 1 earlier this week. The boy was produced before a juvenile justice board (JJB) member and sent to an observation home after he confessed to having killed the boy, the police said.

Only the skull and legs of the six-year-old were found on Tuesday by people from the slum cluster. His torso, arms, eyes and teeth were still to be recovered, the police said, adding that they had no information yet on how the body was dismembered.

The postmortem report had concluded on Wednesday that the body parts had been cut and some eaten by an animal. But the police on Thursday said an animal may have attacked the body as the juvenile had confessed to only killing the boy with a rock, not to dismembering him.

The victim was playing with his cousin and a friend when the suspect joined them. He asked them to come along with him, but only the victim accompanied him after he gave him a biscuit packet, police said. They allegedly went to the forest area near the five-star hotel in DLF Phase 1 which was across the road.

“They were playing kabaddi when the juvenile accidentally hit the victim and he fell off a small cliff. The victim suffered an injury on his chin and started to bleed after which the juvenile apologised and asked him to not tell his parents. The victim told him that he would tell his parents so that he gets a good scolding,” said Karan Goyal, assistant commissioner of police (DLF).

“The juvenile requested him not to tell anyone but he was adamant. So he picked a rock and attacked him on his head repeatedly until he died,” he added.

On seeing the blood, the juvenile got scared and rushed home, the police said.

He allegedly did not disclose the incident to his family, which consists of his mother and an elder sister.

The Gurugram police have not ruled out their involvement and said they were still investigating the case.Two police teams are monitoring the movement of juvenile’s mother and sister, the police said.

The police said they hadn’t been able to join all the dots yet. After the mutilated body of the boy was identified by the victim’s father on Tuesday from his feet and slippers, the police had he could have been subjected to “black magic” rituals.

“We will be able to confirm anything on this after the family of the juvenile is rounded up,” said Goyal. Blood samples of the father of the six-year-old were collected on Thursday for a DNA test.

Goyal said that they had all the evidence against the minor, but in view of the gravity of the crime, they had waited for two days for the boy to confess.

“We were counselling him and initially he was not ready to share the details and we did not want to make him uncomfortable so we gave him enough time to confess. He was changing his statements over and again. The juvenile has been constantly crying since the day he murdered the boy,” he said.

The juvenile was still wearing the same clothes when he was caught and the clothes were sent for a forensic examination, the police said.

The juvenile was produced before the legal-cum-probation officer of district child protection unit and a member of JJB after his medical examination at the civil hospital and he was sent to the observation home.

“The juvenile will be produced before the principal magistrate on Friday and the social investigation report will be prepared within 15 days by the legal-cum-probation officer after visiting the juvenile in the home,” said Goyal.

A social investigation report is conducted by an impartial mental health professional who is qualified to provide the court, the parties, and the parties’ attorneys with information and recommendations regarding the child’s best interests.