Bhopal, Jan. 20 :    Bhopal, Jan. 20:  They planned to be the 'heroes of the nation' who would avenge the December 13 terrorist attack on Parliament and assassinate General Pervez Musharraf. But blind patriotism and blinder faith in Bollywood quick-fixes led them to allegedly kill an innocent eight-year-old instead. Two friends, Manoj Ojha alias Pinku (16) and Ramnivas Namdev alias Rinku (17) of Khatora village in Shivpuri, 245 km from here, kidnapped the son of a wealthy rural businessman and allegedly killed the boy. They had plans to purchase guns, cross over into Pakistan and assassinate Musharraf. Like most teenagers, Pinku and Rinku, sons of north Indian farmer families, watched Sunny Deol in Gadar and Indian with the utmost devotion as the hero shouted anti-Pakistan dialogues. They worshipped Hrithik Roshan in Fiza and Mission Kashmir as India's latest heartthrob flexed his muscles in the role of a terrorist with a soft heart. Then the attack on Parliament happened. There was no looking back after that. The two boys made up their minds: India needed real-life heroes - a portion of patriotism, a la Sunny Deol, and a touch of terrorism, after the fashion of Hrithik Roshan - to take on Pakistan. 'The boys thought there would be a war between India and Pakistan,' said inspector Narottam Mishra, the investigating officer in the case. 'But when they saw there is no chance of a war, they hatched a plot.' During interrogation, they told the police they wanted to be terrorists. 'To be terrorists, they needed arms and to buy arms they needed money. Kidnapping a child and asking for ransom was their solution to the financial crisis,' the police said. They picked eight-year-old Surendra, better known as Shanu, son of Rakesh Jain, a local businessman, as their victim. 'First they had selected a six-year-old boy, son of Krishna Yadav, but changed their minds because this boy was the only child of his parents. Rakesh Jain, on the other hand, had three children. The victim, Shanu, was his second child,' officer Mishra added. Pinku, the younger of the two culprits, had worked in Rakesh Jain's house while Rinku was still employed there as a servant. Both the boys knew that Rakesh Jain was rich enough to spare a couple of lakhs for his son. On January 11, the boys approached little Shanu who was playing with a plastic ball in front of his house. They showed the boy a few empty matchboxes. Rural children in these parts still collect matchboxes and play with them. 'The victim wanted the matchboxes. These boys said he could have them if he followed them to the nearby temple. Once Shanu reached the temple, he was given only one matchbox and told that if he followed the miscreants further, he would be given four more. The little boy followed with the hope of getting more matchboxes,' the police said. But once the victim reached the outskirts of the village near the highway, his assassins allegedly tied his hands with a shoelace. Then they strangled the boy with another shoelace, buried him and walked away carrying with them only one of the victim's shoes to show his father and take money in return. Pinku and Rinku have told the police that they could not possibly have kept the boy alive because there was no place to hide him. Besides, if the boy was returned to his father for ransom, Shanu would have gone back to the village and identified his kidnappers. Even if the kidnappers had turned terrorists by then, their parents would have been harassed by the police and neighbours. On January 17, workers from the telephone department were digging Ishagar Road near the highway. Diggers found the decomposed body of the boy and the police were informed. The victim's parents, meanwhile, had already submitted a complaint about their missing boy. The police opened a case and started interrogating the villagers. As the police exerted pressure on the village, the two boys owned up. They confessed to killing the little boy but what took the entire police force by surprise was the larger motive of assassinating Musharraf. 'Their story is true. We believe their story,' said Shivpuri district collector Kanta Rao. Pinku and Rinku have been remanded in jail custody.