New Delhi, July 30 (Inditop.com) Four people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old schoolboy Ribhu Chawla, police said Thursday. The four were known to the boy, who was kidnapped near his home Tuesday and whose body was found the next day.
The incident has sent a wave of fear through the capital, with parents wondering if they can let their teenaged children go to and from school on their own.
“We have arrested four people, who were known to Ribhu, in the case and they are being questioned. We have also recovered Ribhu’s phone from their possession and the Wagon-R car used in the crime,” a police officer told IANS.
Ribhu, who was kidnapped Tuesday and a ransom of Rs.2 million demanded from his family, was Wednesday found murdered in desolate ruins near Ryan International School in Vasant Kunj area of southwest Delhi. He was identified from the school emblem on his uniform.
A class 11 student of the K.R. Mangalam School in west Delhi’s Vikaspuri, Ribhu was returning home from school on his Scooty two-wheeler along with a friend, Sushanth, who was riding a motorbike, when they were stopped by men driving a Wagon-R car. They were only 40 metres from the entrance to Ribhu’s home in the State Bank of India (SBI) Apartments of Vikaspuri.
According to police, two unidentified men got down from the car and started beating up Ribhu. When Sushanth tried to intervene, he was also beaten and pushed away. The men pulled Ribhu into the car and sped away.
Sushanth and some eyewitnesses immediately called the police control room to report the kidnapping and even provided the car number. Later in the evening, the kidnappers called up Ribhu’s father Sanjay Chawla, a businessman, and demanded Rs.2 million for the boy’s release.
It is not yet clear if any or all the ransom was paid, but Ribhu’s body was found the next day.
