A nine-year-old boy was murdered by his two teenaged neighbours, who kidnapped him after taking a cue from a Hindi film, triggering protests by angry locals who blocked roads, burnt tyres and tore down a shop.
Satyam, a Class IV student of Doon Academy, was kidnapped on Thursday evening when he was playing outside his house and his body was recovered from Kankarbagh area of Patna on Saturday.
Superintendent of Police (City) Anwar Hussain said that the victim's two neighbours -- Avinash and Khursheed alias Monu-- were arrested on suspicion, following which they revealed their involvement in the crime. As the news of Satyam's murder spread, local people came out on the streets and protested by burning tyres and blocking traffic.
They tore down the shutter of the shop of Avinash's father Kishun Sah, who deals in milk products and grocery, and torched goods. Sah has been detained for interrogation. The body of Satyam was found from a room in Ashok Nagar, rented by one of the teenaged killers, today morning, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police R Malar Vizhi said.
The SSP said the boy was strangled by the two after he began crying. During questioning, the duo confessed to have planned the crime after seeing the Hindi movie 'Apharan', whose theme was the thriving kidnapping industry, Vizhi said.
The duo was arrested after it emerged during investigations that the boy was last seen playing with Avinash, a class IX student of DAV school, Khagaul, and Monu, a school dropout and son of a mechanic, both aged 14 years.
Victim's father Rajesh Kumar, who runs an inverter and battery shop, received a ransom call the same night around 8:30 pm, after which he lodged an FIR.
Blaming the police for his son's murder, Kumar said, "Had the police acted promptly after I received the ransom call and tracked it, my son would have been alive.
"Despite my complaint, I was asked to wait for my son's return till Friday morning," he told reporters.
Station House Officer of Kankarbagh Giridhar Pandey has been suspended on the charge of dereliction of duty.