Lucknow: A court in Baghpat sentenced two men to life imprisonment for abducting and killing a six-year-old boy, Shaurya Singh, in December 2022. The two (one of them an uncle of the boy) and a juvenile abducted the Class 2 boy for Rs 50 lakh ransom but murdered him after the family approached police.
Additional district judge Shazia Nazar Zaidi, while passing the order on Wednesday, also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 each on the two convicts — Vineet Singh, the victim’s uncle, and his friend Neeraj Kumar (both 23 years old). The case involving the juvenile was transferred to the Pocso court.
The victim’s grandfather, Jagbeer Singh, said, “We will move the high court to seek death for the convicts.”
Additional district government counsel (ADGC) Amit Khokar said, “Vineet Singh was aware that Shaurya’s grandfather had retired from government service and received huge retirement benefits. So, he hatched a plan to abduct the boy, and roped in Neeraj and a juvenile to execute the crime.”
“They abducted Shaurya on December 15, 2022, when he was returning home from tuition. The three then made a ransom call to the boy’s family, who informed the police. Fearing that Shaurya would reveal their identity, the three strangled him to death and buried the body in a sugarcane field,” the ADGC added.
An FIR was lodged at Khekra police station under IPC sections of abduction, murder and criminal conspiracy following a complaint filed by the boy’s father, Sohanveer Singh, who works as a security guard.
“The crime unfolded after two residents of the same village claimed that they had seen the three ‘accused’ taking the minor away on a bike. After their arrest on December 20, 2022, the accused confessed to have committed the crime. The boy’s body – packed in a plastic bag — was recovered five days later.”
It may be noted that on December 21, 2022, when the accused were being taken to court, Vineet and Neeraj snatched a pistol from a policeman, escaped and hid in a sugarcane field. When the policemen went after the accused, they fired at the cops and a constable suffered a bullet injury. The police fired back and the two accused were hit in the legs.
