A seven-year-old boy’s body was found today in Delhi in a suitcase hidden inside the home of a former tenant he called “uncle”. Indian Administrative Service (IAS) aspirant Avadhesh Sakya, who is also a distant relative of the family, who killed the boy, Ashish, has been arrested. He allegedly killed the boy over a grudge against his parents.
The 27-year-old Sakya had stayed with Ashish’s family for eight years in their home in north-west Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar and just recently shifted to another house in the neighbourhood. He kept visiting the family, which owns a grocery shop.
Since January 7, the boy had been missing and Sakya joined the search party for him. Sakya had even gone with his grandfather to the police station to file a “missing” report.
The child’s body was in the suitcase was found today in a cupboard inside his home. But when neighbours had asked about the rising stench, Sakya had blamed it on dead rats.
“He did not try to dump the body as he knew CCTVs are installed in the streets. Instead, he killed some rats and placed them in his room. When asked about the stink, he showed one of the rats,” said senior police officer Aslam Khan.
The condition of the body indicated that the boy had been murdered soon after he went missing, the police said.
“My son used to call him Avadhesh uncle. He fed him chhole kulche and also promised him a new cycle. That day, he asked me to go to chachi’s house and then he never returned,” said the child’s mother.
The family grew suspicious when Sakya stopped visiting a few days ago.
The police are still investigating how the boy was killed.
Sakya, who has attempted the civil services exams thrice, has reportedly told the police that the child was close to him but his parents didn’t allow him to see him.
Last week, another boy, 5, was rescued after he was kidnapped from his school van on January 25, a day before Republic Day. The boy was saved after an encounter in which one of his three kidnappers was shot dead and another arrested. The kidnappers had allegedly asked for Rs. 60 lakh ransom.