Boy, 15, kidnapped and murdered over Rs 50 lakh ransom in Odisha, two arrested

JHARSUGUDA: A 15-year-old boy from Odisha's Jharsuguda was kidnapped and murdered over a ransom demand of Rs 50 lakh. Police arrested two persons in this connection on Wednesday, a day after the half-burnt body of the victim was recovered from neighbouring Bargarh district.

The boy Samarth Agrawal went missing from Sarbahal in Jharsuguda on Monday afternoon. Soon after, his parents received a call from the kidnappers who used their son's mobile phone demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh.

As Jharsuguda police formed special teams to trace the boy, on Tuesday morning, a half-burnt body was found near Baipur Grid under Bheden police limits in Bargarh district. Locals who saw two persons setting a body on fire informed the police. Later in the evening, the body was sent to Bargarh district headquarters hospital for autopsy. During the investigation, police identified the victim to be Samarth.

Police said the investigation teams tracked down the accused on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The duo was identified as Amit Kumar Sharma and Dinesh Agrawal. Amit was from Jharsuguda while Dinesh belonged to Brajrajnagar. Police said the prime accused Amit was very closely related to the victim's family while Dinesh worked for him. During interrogation, the duo allegedly confessed to kidnapping and killing the boy.

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Jharsuguda Police said the motive behind the crime is yet to be ascertained. “The incident is very unfortunate and we are trying to ascertain the exact motive behind the crime,” Jharsuguda SP Smit P Parmar said.

Sources said the father of the victim who runs an auto-parts shop in Jharsuguda had no past dispute with the prime accused. However, as the accused was well known to the family, Amit was probably able to convince Samarth to go along with him.

CCTV footage shows the prime accused driving the victim on his electric scooty. However, when the duo took him to Bargarh and under what circumstances the boy was killed is yet to come to light.

Parmar said that police are exploring all angles and also trying to find if any other person was involved. “We have sufficient technical and electronic evidence, besides CCTV footage, call records and eye witnesses related to the case,” he added.

Though the confessions and the primary investigation confirm the body was of the victim, police have asked for collection of femur bone and molars of the body for DNA testing.