With the arrest of a minor boy here today, the police claimed to have solved three murders in the district which took place in the last two weeks.
The accused killed two other boys who were involved in the first murder so as to eliminate witnesses, police said.
"The accused admitted that he murdered all three," Guna additional superintendent of police Satyendra Tomar said.
The first victim was Hemant Meena, who was friends with the accused and the other two boys.
Hemant, as per the police, left home on May 18 with Rs 40,000 to buy a motorcycle, but didn't return.
His charred body was found on May 28 at village Khejra. According to the police, the accused killed Hemant with the help of his two friends, Ritik and Lokesh, on the same day he went missing.
"After killing Hemant, the accused tried to masquerade it as a case of kidnapping and sent Ritik to Indore to make a ransom call to Hemant's family members. The three boys decided to share the ransom amount once received," ASP Tomar said.
However, after Ritik returned, the accused murdered him so as to eliminate a witness to the first crime, and burnt his body using petrol, Tomar said. Ritik's body was also found on May 28.
Later he also murdered Lokesh, the police officer said.
"After finding Ritik's charred body we suspected that all these murders were linked," said Tomar.
Police zeroed in on the accused boy as he had been seen with Hemant before the latter went missing.
One more boy was involved in the killings and police were searching for him, Tomar said.
Inspector Amit Agrawal, investigating officer, said all the deceased seem to be above 17, but their exact ages would be known from autopsy reports.
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