Cops baffled: Looking for a reason

Patna, May 31: He is just eight years old, but his neighbours claim that he has already claimed three lives.

At his village, residents have started calling him a “mini” serial-killer. While police remain bewildered to the reason, medical experts call Samarjit’s (name changed) need a “conduct disorder”.

Samarjit (8), a resident of Bhagwanpur in Begusarai, 150 km from here, yesterday “killed” a year old girl Khushi, the neighbour’s daughter, by smashing her face with a brick.

The boy, son of a labourer at Manavpur in Musahri village reportedly had also killed his one-year-old cousin brother and his six-month-old sister in a similar fashion previously. There is, however, no official confirmation of the first two “killings”.

Bhagwalpur police station officer in-charge Shatrughna Prasad confirmed that Samarjit killed the baby while playing.

The boy allegedly told the police: “Khapda se mar mar ke suta deliyay (I killed by beating her with a brick).”

The police arrested the boy and sent him to a Begusarai remand home.

According to the police sources, the boy took the girl from her mother’s lap and went to a nearby field. There he laid the baby on grass and started smashing her face repeatedly.

As there was no one around, her cries could not be heard.

When she died , Samarjit covered the body with grass and leaves, and came back to his house.

Late in the evening her relatives found the baby dead.

It was then that the residents of the village summoned the police and handed the boy over to them. The boy’s parents fled the village before the police came.

While speaking to the police the residents admitted that they were “extra careful” around Samarjit, especially after he had “killed his sister and cousin”.

They added that Khushi’s mother paid a heavy price for letting down her guard, even for a brief while.

Begusarai superintendent of police Amit Lodha said: “After completing the preliminary formalities we have handed the matter to the court. We will hear from the court, who will be responsible for providing medical assistance to the accused.”

Lodha added, “We will also request the court to provide a separate ward for this boy so that he does not harm other juvenile delinquents staying at Begusarai remand home.”

He, however, stressed that the police, as yet, had no confirmation of the two previous killings that the villagers have accused the boy of.

Medical experts’ opinions state that the boy might be suffering from what is known as “conduct disorder”, a mental state wherein a patient feels a sense of gratification after inflicting injuries on others.

Nand Kumar, a psychotherapist with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “Such cases need immediate medical intervention. Doctors need to address the chemical imbalance in patients’ brains.”

Kumar added that while such cases are not rare, the intensity of Samarjit’s action was a “dangerous” symptom.

“Such aggression may be hereditary and may be caused because of great chemical upheavals in the brain.”