Man held for killing four kids in Uttar Pradesh

Gurgaon, July 29: A 23-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly murdering four children, including his nephew and niece, in 2013, police said here on Wednesday.

Devraj, a brick kiln worker and resident of Hariyahera village in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh district, has been arrested for killing the four children, police said.

Seven-year-old Kuldeep, Shivani, Mehndi and Tulsi, each of them aged three, had gone missing from outside the government school in Hariyahera village on May 16, 2013.

Police registered a case of kidnapping and under POCSO Act against unknown people. Later, police announced a reward of Rs.1 lakh to solve the mystery of the missing children.

The accused was arrested from Alipur village here on Tuesday night following a tip off.

According to police, Kuldeep and Shivani were Devraj's nephew and niece and the other two girls were Shivani's classmates.

"Devraj had some feud with his brother-in-law Satyaprakash over some petty issue. To teach Satyaprakash a lesson, he murdered Kuldeep and Shivani," police officer Subhash Boken said.

The children were returning from school on May 16, 2013 when Devraj lured them. He took them to the foothills of Aravali range near Hariyahera village. "The accused killed the children by slitting their throats and dumped the bodies under debris there itself," the officer said.

Devraj was presented before the district court on Wednesday.

"We are grilling the accused in police remand. Skeletons of the victims have been recovered," the officer added.

IANS