A 10-year-old boy from Titauli village in Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, was killed by his cousin, who slit his throat in a jungle in the Shahi area. The victim has been identified as Aahil, aged 10, son of Sakhawat.
The accused, Wasim, aged 28, was shot in both legs during an encounter with police before being arrested.
According to reports, the victim's father, Sakhawat, informed police around 10:30 PM on Sunday that his son Aahil had been missing since 5 PM that evening. Reports indicate that Wasim lured Aahil to come with him by offering him pizza.
A team was deployed to search for Aahil. During this time, Sakhawat received a message on his mobile from an unknown number demanding a ransom of ten lakh rupees. During the investigation, police obtained CCTV footage which showed Aahil's cousin Waseem taking him away on a motorbike towards Shahi.
Following the investigation, Waseem was arrested. During interrogation, he admitted to kidnapping Aahil. He said he had demanded a ten lakh rupee ransom from Aahil's father, who was his maternal uncle. When he learnt that his uncle Sakhawat was in contact with the police, he took Aahil to the forest in Vikrampur village within the Shahi police station area and murdered him by slitting his throat with a blade. He then hid the body in the bushes.
According to police, when the accused Waseem was taken by officers to the bushes to recover the motorbike used in the incident and the blade used to murder Aahil, he pulled out a pistol from the bike's bag and fired at the police team with intent to kill. The police defended themselves and returned fire in self-defence. As a result, Waseem was hit by two bullets in both legs and collapsed. The injured accused has been admitted to hospital.
