tnnJaipur: The mutilated and decomposed body of a 10-year-old boy, who had been missing for several days, was recovered near a culvert in Keshyawala under Muhana police station area on Thursday afternoon, exposing what investigators described as a brutal murder.Police said the boy’s head had been severed and that preliminary examination revealed blunt-force injuries to the neck.SHO (Muhana) Gur Bhupender Singh said an FIR regarding the boy’s disappearance was registered on June 15. The child lived with his mother, a rag picker, and seven siblings. His father works as a labourer in Gujarat.Police said the body was severely disfigured by decomposition that family members could identify the child only from pieces of clothing found on the remains. Investigators estimate the body had been lying at the spot for at least five days.The grim discovery was made around 4pm after local residents alerted police about a strong foul smell emanating from a road passing between two agricultural fields.Suspecting a body had been dumped there, a police team rushed to the spot. Officers initially searched both fields but found nothing. It was only after they get down into a drain running alongside the road that they stumbled upon the highly decomposed body of the child.A senior police officer said investigators are first trying to establish the primary crime scene. “Our priority is to determine whether the child was murdered where the body was found or whether the location was merely used to dispose of the body,” the officer said. The absence of a large blood pool, signs of struggle or drag marks suggests the killing may have taken place elsewhere.Police are also trying to determine whether the body was dumped on foot or transported in a vehicle. Teams searched for tyre marks, footprints, disturbed vegetation and other physical evidence around the drain, but heavy rain on Thursday severely hampered the exercise even as personnel continued combing the large area till late evening.An FSL team examined the scene and collected biological and physical evidence while multiple police teams began scanning CCTV footage and tracing witnesses.Investigators are reconstructing the child’s last known movements by questioning family members, neighbours, friends and shopkeepers from the densely populated locality where he disappeared. Although surveillance cameras are scarce near the recovery site, police are collecting footage from roads connecting the location to the child’s neighbourhood.Sources said the post-mortem report (PMR) is expected to provide crucial leads. Preliminary findings indicate blunt-force injuries, sharp-force wounds and signs consistent with suffocation, though officials stressed that only the PMR would confirm the exact cause and manner of death.Investigators are also trying to establish whether the child was killed before the body was mutilated with a sharp weapon. Forensic experts have been asked to estimate the time of death through decomposition and insect activity and examine the remains for any evidence of sexual assault.Police have seized clothing and other articles recovered from the spot and are awaiting the forensic analysis report.
