VARANASI: Mirzapur police on Tuesday arrested two men after an encounter in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old boy from Semri village under the Vindhyachal police station area.Police said the main accused, Pintu, allegedly took the boy, Prince, from his village on Monday evening on the pretext of teaching him how to ride a motorcycle.He first took the child toward Bihasda market and later to a forest area near Kushiyara Fall under Lalganj police station limits, where he allegedly strangled him to death.Prince was the son of Keshav Prasad, a resident of Semri village, who runs a tea and paan shop near Bihasda Intermediate College on the Mirzapur-Prayagraj road.According to Keshav, Pintu had been visiting his shop for the past four to five days. Around 4 pm on Monday, Pintu took Prince away after offering to teach him motorcycle riding.When the family tried to contact Pintu later in the evening, his phone was switched off.After Prince failed to return home, the family approached the police. The next morning, Pintu allegedly called Keshav’s nephew, Aditya, and demanded Rs 50 lakh as ransom.Police launched a search operation after registering the kidnapping complaint.During the operation near Kushiyara Fall, police arrested Pintu after an encounter in which he sustained bullet injuries in both legs. Another accused, Shailendra, a resident of Kamapur in Vindhyachal, was also arrested.Mirzapur superintendent of police Aparna Rajat Kaushik said the accused confessed during interrogation that he had taken the child around for nearly two hours before killing him in the forest.The child’s body was recovered from the forest and sent for post-mortem examination.
