Two teenagers, including a girl, have been apprehended by police for allegedly abducting a 13-year-old boy and then strangulating him to death, a police officer said today.
The victim, identified as Swapnesh Gupta, and the accused teenagers - both aged around 17 years - were part of a dance group and often went outstation for performing. The juveniles allegedly hatched the conspiracy to earn money, with which they desired to go to Mumbai for participating in a popular reality dance programme on national television, said DCP (Southeast) M S Randhawa.
The duo allegedly abducted the boy on September 16, in the pretext of a dance programme and headed for Uttarakhand. They stayed at a friend's house for one night and allegedly strangulated him with a belt after taking him to a hill-top at Ranikhet in the next morning. They later pushed the body from the cliff and returned to Delhi by September 18.
After coming back, they called up the boy's father and allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 60,000. During investigation, it emerged that the phone number, from which the ransom call was made, was registered in the name of a Jaitpur resident and the documents were fake. Later, an expert team tracked down the location of the caller to be Sector 37 Faridabad and the concerned police department was informed, said a senior officer.
Further investigation revealed that the number, from which the teenagers had called for ransom, was present at Uttarakhand between September 16 and 18, said the officer.
Yesterday, the police apprehended the duo and during questioning, they confessed to the crime, the senior officer added.
