Mumbai Police on Wednesday confirmed the abduction and murder of a 13-year-old boy by his older cousin, after the latter confessed that he had committed the crime as he had lost a lot of money through betting in cricket.
Police said that the semi-charred body of Aditya Ranka, the son of diamond merchant Jitendra Rana was found about six kilometers from Panvel near the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Tuesday evening.
Recounting events leading upto the abduction and murder of Aditya, senior city police officials said that a call was made to the Ranka residence in South Mumbai at around 11 a.m. on Monday. Rana's wife was asked to send Aditya to a shop nearby to collect a set of keys Ranka had left behind.
Aditya's 28-year-old cousin Himanshu Ranka met him near the shop, and under the pretext of going for a drive in a Honda City car, kidnapped him and handed him over to his friend Brijesh Sanghvi.
Soon after, Ranka received a call demanding a ransom of Rs.30 lakh, which he did not take seriously, but when Aditya did not return till evening, he filed a complaint with the V P Road police station.
When Himanshu, who had returned home, informed Sanghvi of the involvement of the police, the latter panicked and killed Aditya by slitting his wrist. He then burnt the body and dumped the remains near the expressway.
The duo used to indulge in cricket betting and had incurred heavy losses, the police said.
Both Himanshu and Sanghvi have been arrested.
