The disfigured body of a three-year-old boy who went missing from east Delhi was recovered from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Tuesday, the police said.
According to the police, the boy was allegedly kidnapped from his residence in Preet Vihar on November 30 and later killed by one of his neighbours. The victim's headless torso was recovered from a field in Meerut. The police suspect that the accused, 16, who has been arrested, killed the boy as part of a human sacrifice ritual.
"A police team was sent to the Jagatpuri residence and the accused was taken into custody. On sustained interrogation, the accused revealed that he left the child in a sugarcane field at Meerut. Thereafter, a team was sent to Meerut where it came to notice that local police have already discovered a body without head and limb," senior police officer Amrutha Guguloth said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
"The head was also found nearby. On the basis of the belongings and clothes, the body was identified to be that of the missing child from Preet Vihar area. The accused has been arrested and further investigation in the case is on," she added.
As the news of the child's gruesome murder broke, his family and other locals staged protests and blocked a road in the Preet Vihar area. The angry protestors even threw stones at the police trying to disperse the crowd.
After interrogating the accused, a Delhi Police team reached Meerut's Nangli-Isa village in Incholi where the victim's headless torso was found. The police added that a hand was also missing while the head was lying far away from the body.
