Five minor students of a madrasa in Odisha’s Nayagarh district were arrested by police for allegedly killing a 12-year-old boy of the institution and dumping his body into a septic tank, an officer said on Sunday.
Sources said that the victim was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered the five seniors. The accused then allegedly disposed of his body by throwing it in the septic tank.
Additional superintendent of police of Nayagarh, Subas Chandra Panda, told reporters: “The incident took place on September 2. We received missing complaints from the family members as well as the authorities of the madrasa about a 12-year old boy. It was a challenge for us. Within 72 hours, we cracked the case.”
Panda said that, though initially it appeared as an accident after recovering the body of the victim from the septic tank, later evidence showed that he was physically tortured and killed.
Panda said: “The examination of the CCTV footage showed the involvement of the five boys. Then killed the boy and later dumped the body in the septic tank of their Madarasa to hide their crime. They killed him through asphyxiation. We have detained the five boys. As all are minors, we forwarded them to the juvenile court, which referred them to the Juvenile Reformation Centre in Angul.”
Police sources said the victim had allegedly threatened the seniors of exposing their act of sexual abuse of junior students. Earlier, they had allegedly attempted to kill the boy on August 31.
Additional reporting by PTI