CHENNAI: Police arrested a 22-year-old man from Assam on Saturday in connection with the murder of a five-year-old boy, son of migrant workers from Bihar, after the child resisted the man’s attempts to allegedly sexually assault him, according to preliminary investigations.
The man, Bhol Dev, then dumped the boy’s body in a secluded spot at Sriperumbudur, where the incident happened, police said. The body was later recovered by the police based on Bhol Dev’s confession.
The victim’s parents and the accused were residents of a temporary settlement of migrant workers, engaged in construction and other daily wage jobs at Karumankazhani village near Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district.
Sriperumbudur police launched a probe after the boy’s parents told them that he had been missing for two weeks, based on which a case was registered. The boy was seen with the accused in CCTV footage accessed by the police as part of their investigation.
“When Bhol Dev was questioned, he initially said he did not know about the child’s whereabouts. Later, however, he confessed to the murder,” said police sources. Sources further added that the child was taken to a secluded spot when he was playing in the neighbourhood unsupervised.
The accused then attempted to sexually assault the child but when he began crying for help, he hit the boy’s head with a rock, killing him, sources said. Bhol Dev then disposed of the body in the bushes nearby, they added.
Based on Bhol Dev’s confession, the body was recovered by the police in a decomposed state, with external injuries to the child’s head and face. The body was then sent to the Sriperumbudur Government Hospital for autopsy.
The accused was arrested on charges of murder, produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.