Boy kidnapped, killed and burnt for ransom

Mechanic arrested for partially decomposed body of minor

The 9 year old boy was playing with his friends near his residence in Mahbubbad, Telangana on Sunday evening when Mandha Sagar, his neighbor offered him a joyride on his bike. The boy, Dikshit Reddy, readily agreed to go as Sagar was known to his journalist father Ranjith Reddy, cops said.

According to the police, the boy’s parents-Amaranth and Vasantha, approached the cops after they received a ransom call at around 9.15pm on Sunday. The child went missing at around 5.40pm on the same. Subsequently, a case of kidnapping was filed and a probe was initiated.

Mahabubbabad Superintendent of police, N Koti Reddy, told reporters that Mandha Sagar, who was known to the family, had kidnapped Dikshit on Sunday evening to earn easy and quick money. He added that the boy was killed by strangulation even before the accused made his first ransom call demanding Rs 45lakh.

Sagar drove away to a hillock at Kalaposalapally, around 5 km away from Krishna colony where the child lived and made 14 ransom calls to the family ever since he abducted the boy, police said. Normally, police would have tracked the abductors by tracing the phone calls. In this case, Sagar’s incoming call was not showing number except ‘private number’. The police say, Sagar was caught when he asked for a Skype call to see the money. The Id was traced to his phone, which helped the police track him down.

After his confession, he led the police to the boy’s decomposed body which was found on hillock in nearby Kalaposalapally forest area. Police are investigating further to ascertain the role of any other persons in the act