The accused, Sridhar Mohapatra, in police custody. Picture by Gopal Krishna Redy

Berhampur, July 20: Police found the skeleton of one-and-half-year-old Anshuman, who was kidnapped on June 24 night, concealed in a briefcase near MKCG Medical College and Hospital yesterday.

The child was kidnapped from Kukudakhandi, about 10km from here, for a ransom of Rs 4 lakh and was killed on June 26. This came to light when the police seized the kid’s skeleton hidden in a briefcase from behind the staff quarters of the hospital 24 days after his death.

Inspector in charge of Town police station Aditya Sethi said: “We seized the skeleton of the boy after the killer Sridhar Mahapatra of Hariharpur village in Nayagarh district was arrested at Old Bus Stand here yesterday.”

Sridhar, a history sheeter, confessed to the crime and told the police about place where he had thrown the body. Sridhar is an associate of Yashoda, kingpin of a dacoit gang, the police said.

Anshuman was the only son of Kaira Patra, a native of Baulajholi village who is at present residing at Kukudakhandi in a rented house.

Sridhar kidnapped the boy from the house when the Patra couple had kept their main door open due to severe heat on June 24 night.

“The intention of Sridhar was to steal from the house. But when he did not find anything, he planned to kidnap the boy and demand a ransom later,” said the inspector-in-charge. Sridhar left a note in the house asking the family to give him Rs 10,000, but later he increased the ransom amount to Rs. 4 lakh.

He was in contact with Patra over mobile phone. But Patra expressed his inability to pay the ransom and later lodged a complaint with the police on June 25.

During interrogation Sridhar said that he and Yashoda entered Patra’s house and kidnapped his son on June 24 midnight. They kept the boy in an abandoned house near a canal at Ratanpur. But they killed the boy after he kept on crying on June 26.