KADAPA: A minor boy, who was allegedly involved in several chain-snatching cases, was strangled to death by another teenager at a juvenile home in Kadapa on Thursday. Police said the victim, Sk Mustafa (16), belonged to Islampur area of Proddatur town.
He was arrested four months ago and was in remand custody at the juvenile home. Though the relevant court had granted him bail a couple of days ago, he was not released as no guarantors were available. While this was so, two days ago, the police arrested two minors in connection with cycle-lifting cases in Proddatur and they too were remanded to the juvenile home.
The duo reportedly had a heated argument over their arrest and Mustafa intervened which in turn led to an altercation between Mustafa and one of the two alleged cycle-lifters who was aged 16. The boy reportedly threatened to kill Mustafa.
When Mustafa went to the washroom on Wednesday night, the accused strangled him with a towel. As soon as he came to know of the incident, the juvenile home superintendent Annajee lodged a complaint with the One Town police station late Wednesday night. A police team led by inspector of police K Ramesh visited the scene of offence and inquired with the inmates about the incident.
The body was shifted to the RIMS for postmortem. Based on the complaint lodged by the father of the deceased and the juvenile home superintendent, the police registered a case. In his complaint, the juvenile home superintendent stated that the accused had confessed to committing the crime and the same was conveyed to the police.
The police said they would approach the relevant authorities to obtain a prisoner transit (PT) warrant for the accused for questioning and further investigation.