A 13-year-old boy was killed allegedly by three villagers for stealing a pigeon in Punjab's Mansa district, police said on Sunday.
The body of Raja Singh, a Class 7 student, was found near a tree outside Rordki village at Sardulgarh in Mansa on Saturday night, they said.
According to a complaint filed by the victim's family, the boy went missing on Saturday evening. They informed police that one of the accused had threatened the boy with dire consequences after charging him with stealing his pigeon, said police.
Based on the statement from the boy's father, police registered a murder case against three pigeon keepers -- Tarlochan Singh, Kala Singh and Teja Singh -- who were residents of the same village.
When asked how the boy was murdered, police said the exact cause of death would be ascertained after post-mortem.
They said efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused.