Man held for killing four kids in Haryana

A 23-year-old brick kiln worker has been arrested here for allegedly murdering four children, including his nephew and niece, in 2013, police here said on Wednesday.

Devraj, from Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district, was arrested on Tuesday for killing the four children, police said.

Seven-year-old Kuldeep, Shivani, Mehndi and Tulsi, each of them aged three, had gone missing from outside the government school in Haryana's Hariyahera village on May 16, 2013.

Police registered a case of kidnapping and under POCSO Act against unknown people. Later, police announced a reward of Rs.1 lakh to solve the mystery of the missing children.

The accused was arrested from Alipur village here on Tuesday night following a tip off.

According to the police, Kuldeep and Shivani were Devraj's nephew and niece and the other two girls were Shivani's classmates.

"Devraj had some feud with his brother-in-law Satyaprakash over some petty issue. To teach Satyaprakash a lesson, he murdered Kuldeep and Shivani," police officer Subhash Boken said.

The children were returning from school on May 16, 2013 when Devraj lured them. He took them to the foothills of Aravali range near Hariyahera village. "The accused killed the children by slitting their throats and dumped the bodies under debris there itself," the officer said.

Devraj was presented before the district court on Wednesday.

"We are grilling the accused in police remand. Skeletons of the victims have been recovered," the officer added.