Indus Valley Times

By Nalini Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 26: Cuttack police on Monday said it had cracked the mystery behind the death of a nine-year-old boy whose body was found in a pond in Jagatpur in Cuttack district on December 16.

The police said a youth named Jogendra Panda alias Babula had killed the minor as he opposed his attempt sodomize him.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that Jogendra was allegedly attempting to sodomize the minor. When the latter disclosed the matter to his family, Jogendra, in a fit of rage, hacked him with a wooden plank and then sliced his throat with a sickle,” said Cuttack deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Pinak Mishra.

On December 16, the minor boy’s body was recovered from a pond in Chandan Pokharipada near Thoria Sahi. After the body was recovered, family members had alleged that the boy had been killed.

Following a complaint, police started an investigation which led to the arrest of the accused.

“During the course of investigation, our team found out that it was murder over the demand of unnatural sex. The minor boy had left the house after his father had beaten him up. He was hiding at a place in the neighbourhood when the accused approached him. Taking advantage of the situation, he tried to lure the boy into having unnatural sex with him. When the minor threatened to reveal this to his family, Jogendra caught hold of a wooden plank nearby and hit him. As the boy fell unconscious, he then slit his throat with a sickle. The weapons used in the crime have been seized and the accused arrested following a probe,” the DCP told reporters.