BENGALURU: A 13-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his neighbour for ransom here on Wednesday night. As the accused was trying to flee towards Andhra Pradesh in his car, he crashed into other vehicles on the service road of the Kempegowda International Airport Road in Chikkajala. The public caught him and handed him over to the police, who got suspicious and opened the car’s boot only to find the boy’s body. The accused was reportedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
The victim, identified as Prajwal, a resident of Vinayaka Nagar, was allegedly taken by Bhaskar Reddy, 28, in a car on the pretext of buying firecrackers for Ganapati idol immersion. Reddy assaulted Prajwal inside the car and made him record a video, which was sent to the boy’s father Manohar, a financier and realtor. Reddy threatened to kill Prajwal if the ransom was not paid.
Manohar informed Bhaskar’s father. Both of them called Bhaskar and scolded him and asked him to come back with the boy immediately. They also alerted the police and both started a search for the boy.
One more involved in boy’s murder say cops
Bhaskar, who was terrified that his plan was failing, killed Prajwal by hitting him on the head with a cement brick inside the car and put the body in the trunk.
As he was trying to flee, he crashed into the vehicles. The Chikkajala police, who rushed to the scene, became suspicious, checked the car and found the boy’s body. Bhaskar tried to convince the cops, saying the boy died when he came across the car. But the police investigated, found out his motive and arrested Bhaskar.
“We are checking if the murder was committed just for money or if there is any other motive. Apart from Bhaskar, another accused was identified and he will be arrested soon. The families of Prajwal and Bhaskar are well-off. Prajwal had a great interest in cars. Knowing that, Bhaskar lured the boy into his car, saying they would buy crackers,” said an officer.