HAVERI: Inspired by crime serials on television, two youngsters including a juvenile kidnapped an 11-year-old boy in Haveri before killing him and burning the body to destroy the evidence.
After Tejasgowda Mallikeri, a resident of Ashwini Nagar in Haveri, went missing on March 7, his father Jagadish Mallikeri lodged a complaint with the Town Police station in the city. Police cracked the case after detaining and interrogating two youths from the same area who were behaving suspiciously.
Ritesh B Meti, 20, and his 17-year-old brother kidnapped Tejasgowda and took him in their car, said police. As the victim and accused were from the same area and their houses are hardly 150 metres away, they knew each other. They wanted to demand some money from the victim’s father, but fearing that after releasing the boy, he may disclose their identity, they strangled him on the same day and dumped the body in Heggeri Lake on the outskirts of the city.
When the missing complaint was lodged and police began to make inquiries over the boy, both accused feared they might be caught and kept a watch on the lake. After three days, they found the decomposed body floating in the lake on March 10 and carried it near their house. As the body was emitting a foul smell, they shifted the body near Devaraj Urs Hostel and burnt it in the bushes.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Haveri superintendent of police K Devaraju said they had formed a team to investigate the boy's disappearance on March 8 and also kept track of the phone of the victim’s father suspecting the kidnappers might call him demanding money, but he had not received any call.
As there was no information about the missing boy and there were no phone calls, they suspected the Meti brothers whose behaviour had changed over the last few days. On Friday (March 12), the police detained and grilled the duo who spilled the beans and admitted that they were inspired by TV serials.
Police said Ritesh was involved in some cases earlier, while his younger brother was a bright student.