HYDERABAD: Five days after the murder of 10-year-old Sahasra in Kukatpally, police concluded that a 14-year-old SSC student, a neighbour of the girl, was responsible.
The boy was detained, interrogated along with his parents, and later produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Friday. “It just happened like an accident,” the boy, who stabbed Sahasra 21 times, told the police after hours of questioning.
Investigators said he had gone to the victim’s house intending to steal a cricket bat, which he called an “MRF bat”. When the girl spotted him, he attacked her. Initially, police suspected that the motive was theft of money, but the boy admitted he had gone for the bat. However, he neither took the bat nor any cash, fleeing after killing her.
Police also found a note, purportedly written by the accused, in his house outlining a detailed plan: “First go to the residence, take gas (domestic refill), cut the gas pipe, ignite it, take money at the residence, come out of the room and lock the home.”
The note ended with the words “mission don (done)”. Investigators insist it indicates premeditation, though the boy did not carry out the gas leak plot.
Notebooks seized from his residence suggested he regularly watched crime films. The boy’s family is originally from Prakasam district in AP.
Over the past five days, police questioned several neighbours and the minor accused himself. At first, he gave evasive replies.
Accused boy had attended victim’s birthday party
Once questioned again, the boy admitted to the killing.
The boy had confined himself at his home over the past five day and kept checking social media for news of the murder.
According to investigators, on August 18 the boy jumped from his building to the victim’s building adjacent, and entered the girl’s house. Alone at the time, Sahasra confronted him when he tried to take the bat. He then stabbed her with a small knife. “The postmortem revealed 14 stab wounds on the neck and seven on the stomach. The weapon was a small sharp knife,” a police official said.
Officers added that the accused was familiar with the victim’s family. He had attended her birthday party previously, and police verified photographs in which he was seen offering cake to her. A police team also visited the boy’s school on Friday as part of the investigation. The case details are expected to be disclosed to the media on Saturday.
Sahasra’s father Krishna works as a bike mechanic, her mother Renuka is a lab technician, and her brother attends school. On the day of the incident, the parents left for work around 9.30 am and her brother also went to school. Krishna later received a call that Sahasra had not delivered his son’s lunchbox. When he returned home at noon, he found his daughter lying in a pool of blood.