Three, including one juvenile, kill 17-year-old boy in New Delhi inspired by popular TV show; police arrests all accused

New Delhi: Inspired by a popular crime TV show, two men, along with a juvenile, allegedly killed a 17-year-old boy and made a ransom call to his family demanding Rs 20 lakh to portray it as a case of kidnapping, police said on Sunday. The incident was reported from south Delhi’s Mehrauli. On 28 October, the police was informed by a man that his son had been kidnapped. The victim’s father informed the police that the accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 20 lakh for the release of his kidnapped son, the police said. The complainant’s son, who studied in Class XII, used to go to Shani Dham Mandir on every Saturday. He had left for the temple around 7 pm on his scooter but did not return till 9.30 pm, his father told the police. [caption id=“attachment_2805228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] When they tried to reach him on his cell phone, his number was not reachable, he said. After some time, when he contacted his son, some other person received the call and told him that his son had been kidnapped and demanded the ransom, the police said. Subsequently, he informed the police and a case was registered. During an investigation, the police team found the scooter of the boy and started looking for CCTV footage to gain clues of the accused. The police found the CCTV footage wherein three people were seen riding a motorcycle and were trailing the victim’s vehicle. A close friend of the victim identified the accused —Naveen Singh (20) and Akash Choudhary (23) — and a juvenile, police said. During an interrogation, it was revealed that Singh had become friends with a girl, who was studying in the same school as the deceased. The victim was taking interest in the girl with whom Singh was chatting and that irked the latter who hatched a plan inspired by a popular crime TV show to kill the minor boy, the police said. When the boy was returning from Shani Dham Mandir, the trio called him and asked him to come for a ride with them, the police added. Chaudhary sat on the victim’s two-wheeler while Singh and the juvenile followed them on the motorcycle. They went towards Mittal Gardens which was lying abandoned, adjacent to the forest land of the Delhi Development Authority. As per the plan, Singh strangulated the victim with a ‘gamcha’ and the trio later climbed the wall of the DDA jungle and dumped the body under the bushes. The accused tried to mislead the police and threw the victim’s cell phone in a drain in Chhatarpur, Ishwar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said. Choudhary even assisted the victim’s family in searching for him, he said. Singh and Choudhary have been arrested and the juvenile has been apprehended in connection with the case, they added.