Sept. 18: In a spine-chilling incident, two minor boys allegedly murdered their nine-year-old stepbrother and attempted to kill another at Tapatoli under Khetri police station last night.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the four siblings had left their house to see Vishwakarma Puja around 6pm yesterday. Thereafter, two of them, 15-year-old Mehtab Ali and 14-year-old Rajib Ali, hatched a conspiracy to murder their stepbrothers, Poonam, 9,and Hanif, 13,” a police officer said.

Around 8pm, Mehtab and Rajib strangled Poonam to death and threw his body in a ditch in a forest area at Khetri on the outskirts of the city.

“The duo then pounced on Hanif, who had by then become hysterical on seeing his brother being killed, and threw him into a nearby well,” the officer said.

Hanif, however, had a miraculous escape as he somehow managed to climb out of the well after his stepbrothers left the place thinking him to be dead.

“Panic stricken, Hanif rushed to a house near the well and narrated his horrific experience to the residents who, in turn, informed the matter to his parents and Khetri police station,” the officer said.

The father of the four boys is Majid Ali, a petty trader who has two wives.

On the basis of Hanif’s statement, the police and residents of the area launched a search in the forest to recover Poonam’s body.

“We found the child’s body in the ditch around midnight. But both the accused are absconding,” the officer said.

Khetri police have registered a murder case and launched a hunt to apprehend the accused juveniles.

The police have not yet been able to ascertain the motive behind the murder yet.

“During questioning, the boys’ family members could not give us any clue to the gruesome incident. Probably they are hiding something from us,” the officer said.

The incident has shocked the police and people.

“It is a rare case because both the victims and the accused are minors and related to each other. I still can’t believe how children of such tender age can become so violent,” the officer added.

The police today sent Poonam’s body to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.