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A 16-year-old boy was beaten to death, allegedly by a group of six people with wooden sticks, on suspicion of theft in northwest Delhi’s Mukundpur during the early hours of Monday. The boy’s body was found a day later — with limbs tied and bruises on the body — following which police were informed.
Police said they are probing claims that the boy was caught trying to break into a three-storey house through the terrace using a wooden ladder, along with two other accomplices. The boy was caught after 3 am, but the PCR call was made three hours later. Police suspect that the minor was beaten during this period by a crowd.
Police have arrested two men under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and have also added sections of causing disappearance of evidence of offence and wrongful restraint. Four others are on the run. Two blood-stained wooden sticks were also recovered by police.
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“We have also registered a case against the dead boy under charges of attempt to theft,” said a senior police officer.
Three brothers live in the house, two of whom have been arrested. “The boy had trespassed inside their house in an attempt to commit theft. The accused — Nand Kishore and Raj Kishore — were arrested from their home,” said DCP (northwest) Aslam Khan.
The absconding accused have been identified as the third brother Triveni, Sant Lal, Sohan Lal and Deshraj.
Police said the boy had been living with his elder brother in a rented one-room accommodation.
On the night of the incident, the boy’s elder brother said, they had retired for the night around 10 pm after dinner.
“He was playing on his mobile phone and I asked him to sleep instead. We locked the door from the inside. When I woke up the next morning, my brother was not there,” the elder brother said.
The family looked for the boy on the terrace, but did not find him there. The elder brother stepped out of the house and was informed by a kirana store owner that the teenager had been beaten to death. “I saw a crowd at the spot where my brother’s body lay. He was in his vest and underwear, with bruises all over. We took him to the hospital… I saw bruise marks on his legs. It looked like they mercilessly beat him with a stick,” the brother alleged.
The boy was taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. “They could have broken his hands or legs… but beating a child to death was extreme. Could they have not waited for the police?” the boy’s uncle said. Police have deputed additional force in the locality to guard the main entry and exit points.
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