Ludhiana, August 21
The police recovered the body of eight-year-old Sehajpreet Singh from Doraha canal today morning, three days after he went missing, and arrested his uncle on the charge of murdering the boy.
Sehajpreet Singh was killed by his uncle, at Abdullapur Basti in Ludhiana on Sunday
The accused, identified as Swaran Singh (55), has been booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) of the IPC.
“Swaran Singh was taaya and masar of Sehajpreet. He is the elder brother of Sehajpreet’s father and his wife is the sister of boy’s mother,” Harish Behl, Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP), Civil Lines, told the media here.
The accused in police custody. Tribune Photo
Swaran, who has two sons and one daughter, confessed to have killed his nephew, who studied in Class II, to avenge the insults inflicted upon him by Sehajpreet’s mother, the police have said.
“My mother is bedridden. I was the only person looking after her. Instead of attending to my elderly mother, my wife and Sehajpreet’s mother would taunt me. They would call me the ‘servant of my mother’. I killed Sehajpreet to avenge the insult,” the accused reportedly told the police.
The ACP said, “On the night of August 18, Sehajpreet was cycling outside his house in Abdullapur Basti here when Swaran asked him to accompany him to the Golden Temple, Amritsar, on his motorcycle. En route, they stayed at a Katani Kalan gurdwara in Ladhowal for the night.”
“The next day, the two paid obeisance at the Golden Temple around 6 am and then went to another gurdwara near Doraha canal, around 15 km from here. Around 6.30 am, Swaran stopped the motorcycle on the banks of the canal and pushed the boy into the water,” the police have said.
The CCTV footage played a key role in arresting the accused. After the boy’s family asked the police to verify Swaran’s role, the police seized the CCTV footage from Ladhowal, Jalandhar bypass and the gurdwara near Doraha. Subsequently, Swaran was questioned and he confessed to have killed the boy.
“In the footage, the boy can be seen with the accused at Katani Kalan gurdwara and the one near the canal,” the ACP said, adding the body was found floating about 4 km from the spot he was thrown into the canal.
Sehajpreet’s relative said, “We are shocked that Swaran killed the innocent boy just because his wife and the boy’s mother taunted him for devoting more time to his bedridden mother.”
CCTV footage key evidence
The CCTV footage played a key role in arresting the accused. After the boy’s family asked the police to verify Swaran’s role, the police seized the footage from Ladhowal, Jalandhar bypass and the gurdwara near Doraha. Subsequently, Swaran was questioned and he confessed to have killed the boy.
Was fed up of being taunted
My mother is bedridden. I was the only person looking after her. Instead of attending to my elderly mother, my wife and Sehajpreet’s mother would taunt me. They would call me the ‘servant of my mother’. I killed Sehajpreet to avenge the insult. —Swaran Singh, Accused
