Express News Service
HAVERI: Inspired by crime serials on television, two youngsters including a juvenile kidnapped an 11-year-old boy in Haveri before killing him and burning the body to destroy the evidence.
After Tejasgowda Mallikeri, a resident of Ashwini Nagar in Haveri, went missing on March 7, his father Jagadish Mallikeri lodged a complaint with the Town Police station in the city. Police cracked the case after detaining and interrogating two youths from the same area who were behaving suspiciously.
Ritesh B Meti, 20, and his 17-year-old brother kidnapped Tejasgowda and took him in their car, said police. As the victim and accused were from the same area and their houses are hardly 150 metres away, they knew each other. They wanted to demand some money from the victim’s father, but fearing that after releasing the boy, he may disclose their identity, they strangled him on the same day and dumped the body in Heggeri Lake on the outskirts of the city.