GHAZIABAD: Three men have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and stabbing to death a 10-year-old boy here, police said on Friday.
The victim was the cousin of one of the accused, they said.
SP (crime) Deeksha Sharma said a missing report was lodged by the boy's father at Khoda police station on April 12.
During the investigation, it came to the fore that the boy was last seen with his cousin Priyanshu who was then arrested on Thursday along with his friends Raj Kumar and Akash, the police officer said.
The body of the boy with stab marks was recovered the same day following interrogation of the three accused, Sharma said.
Interrogation led Priyanshu to confess his crime.
He told the police that he had hatched a plan along with his friends to extort Rs 15 lakh from his uncle, the SP said.
Priyanshu took the boy to a park in Noida sector 54 on the pretext of playing with him.
When the boy insisted on going home, the three accused tied his mouth with a cloth, the police officer said.
As the boy still tried to flee the accused stabbed him to death, stuffed the body in a gunny bag and put it behind a bush.
They planned to hide the body and call the boy's father from an unknown number demanding ransom, police said.
The knife used in the crime has been recovered, SP said.