Abhi, 7, from Gonal Keri at Kamalapur in Vijayanagara district, who had gone missing on Tuesday, was found dead on Friday. The Kamalapur police have arrested Obalesh, 24, on charges of murdering the boy by pushing him into the Tungabhadra Project High-Level Canal.
As per the available information, the accused had kidnapped the boy from the his school on October 22 and killed him on the same day by pushing him into the canal. Following a complaint lodged by the boy’s mother, a missing case was registered in Kamalapur Police Station.
Acting upon the complaint, the police had launched a search operation and found the child’s body at a canal near Kurekuppa village.
Obalesh had picked up the boy on his scooter to drop him at the school. CCTV footage confirmed that he picked him up again later. During the interrogation, the accused admitted to having thrown the boy into the canal at P.K. Halli countryside.
“The accused could be arrested quickly because of the swift action by the police team. He was planning to flee to coffee estates in Chikkamagaluru to work as a labourer,” the Vijayanagara Superintendent of Police Shrihari Babu B.L. told the media.
An initial investigation revealed that the accused had an affair with the victim’s mother who was planning to get divorced from her husband and married to the accused. The police suspected that the accused viewed the boy as an obstacle to their relationship and hence eliminated him.
“The mother, however, did not have the idea of killing her son. She herself had lodged the complaint about her missing son. She was shocked upon learning what Obalesh had done,” an officer said.
Published - October 26, 2024 08:31 pm IST
