A 15-year-old boy has allegedly plotted and executed the plan to murder his nine-year-old hostel inmate, allegedly for rejecting his proposal for sexual favour, at the Tribal Welfare Ashram Hostel at Puli Ramu Gudem, under Buttayagudem Police Station limits, in Eluru district.
The prime accused, identified as a Class X student, had allegedly physically and sexually abused the deceased boy previously too, a senior police official associated with the investigation of the case told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
The victim belonged to the Konda Reddi tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing the media here on July 13 (Thursday), Eluru Superintendent of Police D. Mary Prasanthi said, “The two juveniles in conflict with law are inmates of the Tribal Welfare Ashram School-cum-Hostel. They confessed that they killed the hostel inmate due to ‘personal dispute’. They will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board.”
The Superintendent of Police, however, did not reveal what was the dispute that had led to the murder.
“The juveniles in conflict with law confessed that they left a letter in the hands of the deceased to divert the course of investigation,” Ms. Prasanthi said.
At midnight on July 10, the they had allegedly abducted the victim from his hostel block. He was allegedly beaten to death on the school campus located opposite the hostel block in the morning. They allegedly gained entry into the hostel block by wearing masks.
As per an official release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office on July 10, the body of the victim had contusion marks around the neck and a small scratch near the right eye.
“The deceased was being physically abused by the prime accused since early this year. The Accused No. 2 in the case had lent his support to the prime accused in the execution of the murder plot. The police have deployed 10 teams to crack the case,” the official associated with the investigation said.
