16-year-old boy held for strangling, burning minor girl to death

GURUGRAM: A boy of tenth class was arrested for strangling a nine-year-old girl to death and for trying to burn her body. The incident happened at Gurugram in Haryana. Police said that he murdered the girl while stealing gold. Police said that there were no other problems between the two families.

The incident happened Monday morning at 10 am. The girl’s father had gone for work. Her mother and two-year-old younger brother had gone to meet the 16-year-old boy’s mother. Seeing this, he left home on the pretext of going for tuitions. He reached the girl’s house and rang the bell. He entered the house, sat on the sofa and asked for water. When she came back with the water, she saw him stealing gold from the almirah. When she told him that she will tell her mother, he threw the gold outside.

She did not listen when he asked her not to tell this to anyone. Following that, the boy strangled her, went to the puja room, came back with camphor and lit it. After some time, the girl’s mother came and rang the bell. Nobody opened the door. She noticed smoke emanating from the room. She started screaming and immediately her neighbours rushed to the spot. They entered the house through the balcony and then saw the girl lying dead. Half of her body was burnt. The boy was sitting next to the body.

The boy first told police that two thieves entered the house, attacked him and then killed the girl. He later confessed to the crime when questioned in detail. He later told police that he had a debt of Rs 20,000 and stole gold to clear it. DCP Karan Goel said that he is being questioned again.