Four school boys held for killing 18-year-old in WB’s Murshidabad: Police
Police said the accused were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday and were sent to a home in Berhampore
Berhampore: The West Bengal police said they have apprehended four school boys, aged between 15 to 17 years old, on charges of murdering an 18-year-old man.
The incident took place on January 8 in Murshidabad district following an altercation over a mobile game, police said.
Police said that the victim was hit on the head, then strangulated with a nylon string and also his throat was slit. His decomposed body was found in a bush along a feeder canal near Farakka Barrage on January 15, said police.
The matter came to light following a missing complaint from the victim’s mother to the police on January 11, three days after the incident. Following the complaint, an investigation was launched, and police apprehended the four minors.
“The four have confessed to the murder. They were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday and were sent to a home in Berhampore,” Ananda Roy, superintendent of police (SP), Jangipur police district, told media persons.
The accused have been charged with section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, police said.
Initially, the accused declined to know anything about the incident, however, they confessed to the murder after police confronted them with the phone call records and autopsy report.
To be sure, a confession or disclosure statement of any person made before a police officer is not admissible as evidence before a court unless it is backed by other evidence. Only a confession before a judge is admissible as evidence against an accused.
Preliminary investigations reveal that it all started as an altercation over a mobile game, which led to a confrontation.
They met near a ghat on January 8 to settle the dispute. In the meeting, a heated altercation broke out between the five of them, and one of them hit the victim with a wooden log from behind, an officer said. They then strangulated the victim with a nylon string and also slit his throat using a razor blade to ensure death. Later, the accused burned the victim’s body using petrol, added the officer.