Minor boy kidnapped, murdered over one-sided love affair

Keonjhar: Police on Wednesday arrested a man on charges of abducting and killing a 7-year-old boy on January 12 after the kid’s mother turned down his love proposal in Gosaninuagaon area of Ganjan district.

According to sources, the minor boy went missing after going on a scooter with his distant relative identified as Debasish Panda of Jajpur. Following the incident, a missing complaint was lodged by the mother of the boy at Gosaninuagaon police station.

Based on the complaint, police launched an investigation and arrested the accused who from Dunguripali area in Sambalpur district.

During police interrogation, Panda revealed that he had stoned the minor boy to death inside Tara Tarini forest near Chhatrapur.

“I met the boy’s mother on Facebook and fell in love with her. However, when I approached the minor boy’s mother with love proposal, she refused,” said Panda.

“In order to take revenge, I took the kid with me on pretext of dropping him in school at around 10.40 am. Later I took him to the forest for sight-seeing near Tara Tarini where I stoned him to death,” added Panda.

Berhampur Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Bishnu Prasad Pati said the accused has confessed to have commitetd the crime in front of the magistrate and further action will be taken as per law.