A 13-year-old boy allegedly killed his five-year-old cousin because she was the centre of attention of the family and everyone adored her, reported the Hindustan Times. The minor took his cousin to a remote area on a hill near Vasai East in Vasai-Virar on Saturday evening (March 1), where the boy strangled her to death and then crushed her head with a rock.
The 13-year-old was later detained by the police in the early hours of Sunday after a complaint filed by the girl's family led to a search for the child. Police found her body on the hilltop. The deceased victim, identified as Shidra Khatun, a resident of Shriram Nagar in Vasai East. The accused boy lives in an apartment adjacent to the girl.
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On Saturday afternoon, Mohammad Salman Mohammad Ramzan Khan, father of five-year-old victim, dropped Shidra home after he picked her up for school, and then left for work. In the evening, Shidra was seen playing outside their home. When she did not return, her family started looking for her.
When the parents were unable to find her by 10 p.m., they started checking the CCTV footage of shops and the school in the area for clues. The footage showed Khan’s 13-year-old nephew taking his daughter with him but couldn’t tell where they were going.
When the family questioned, the teenager cooked up a false story and said that he had taken Shidra to a nearby hill to play, but two men had kidnapped her. He also said that he was threatened by the men and, scared, he fled and didn’t tell anyone about the incident.
The family rushed to the police and filed an alleged kidnapping complaint at around 11.30 pm Saturday night. According to the police, they questioned the teenager, who repeated his story. Police then asked him to take them to the spot where the alleged kidnapping had taken place.
When police searched the hilly area, they found Shidra's body at 3 am on Sunday. The girl had strangulation marks on her neck, made allegedly by small hands. Suspecting this, the police further interrogated the minor, who allegedly confessed to killing Shidra. The police have detained the minor boy and will produce him before the Juvenile Justice Board on Monday.