Bangalore: Man kills 10-yr-old in City over dispute

DHNS

Bangalore, 20 October 2012: A 10-year-old boy was found murdered atop a building in Majestic area on Friday night. The victim, Harshavardhan, lived with his family at Kodihalli 4th cross and was a class IV student at Cambridge English Medium School in HAL 3rd stage.

 

Police arrested Srinivas, 23, in connection with the murder. Srinivas killed Harshavardhan four days ago as he had financial disputes with the victim’s family, said the police.

 

Bhaskar Reddy, Harshvardhan’s father, runs a paying guest accommodation in the same locality. Harshavardhan is the elder of Bhaskar Reddy’s two sons. Kiran Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy’s brother, is also into the same business. The brothers had employed Srinivas, who hails from Madanapalli, as manager of the paying guest homes. Srinivas was very close to the Reddys for the last five years. He would often stay in the Reddy’s residence, added the police.

 

In the recent past, the Reddys had disputes with him over money. It is said that the Reddy brothers owed Srinivas Rs 1.5 lakh and had delayed payment, despite the latter’s entreaties, said the police.

 

Srinivas planned to abduct the boy for ransom. He wanted to take boy to Madanapalli and keep him there till he got the money.

 

Srinivas, who knew Harshvardhan would go to a tuition class near his house daily between 4 pm and 7 pm, met the boy after he came out of the tuition class and persuaded him to accompany towards Majestic.

 

At Gandhi Nagar, Srinivas offered the boy some eatables and took him to Central bus stand. Failing to persuade the boy to get into a bus bound for Madanapalli, Srinivas took him to a lodge in Upparpet. Suspicious as Srinivas had no luggage with, the lodge staff refused him accommodation.

 

Srinivas took the boy towards a building opposite Kapali theatres, in a inner lane used to dump garbage, and hanged him from a pole atop the lodge, using a wire, and fled, police said. Bhaskar Reddy lodged a missing complaint with the JB?Nagar police as the boy did not return home.

 

“We started searching for the boy and collected details of those who worked with Reddys. The boy had gone missing from the tuition class. When enquired, a few persons said they had spotted Harshavardhan going with Srinivas on the evening when he went missing,” said DCP (East Division) Krishna Bhat.

 

The police said they arrested Srinivas from JB Nagar, and that he admitted to killing the boy.