Muzaffaranagar: The school-going teenager, Irshaad Alam, 16, who had been reported missing on 18 July, was found on Thursday, buried in the backyard of a Hindu-owned oil mill.
According to The Indian Express report, the boy was in a relationship with the niece of the owner of the oil mill, Chander Saini.
Tension has now overtaken Kawal village, which is considered to be the epicentre of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
Despite the crippling Muzaffarnagar riot, both the Saini’s and Ahmad’s families had been living peacefully as neighbours without hurting each other until the incident happened.
When Irshaad did not return the next day, Shakeel Ahmad, the father of the deceased along with members of local Muslim filed a missing complaint with the police.
The police did the task of tracking down and discovered via Irshaad’s call detail records that his last location was near the house of Saini’s niece.
When the family was questioned, the girl began crying. Following the clues, the police searched Saini’s house and found Irshaad’s carcass in the backyard.
“We felt something was fishy when the boy’s call detail report (CDR) revealed that he had been in constant touch with one specific person. Interestingly, both sim cards were registered in Ershad’s name, which means the youth had given that number to the girl. Further investigations revealed that it was a girl in the neighbourhood with whom he was communicating,” said SSP Deepak Kumar to TOI.
“Questioning of the brothers of the girl confirmed that the boy was strangulated soon after he was abducted on Monday night. His body was hidden in a shallow pit in a plot that belonged to the uncle of the girl. We recovered the body and have arrested Pawan and Mohan Saini, the brothers, along with the uncle.”
After news of the murder spread on Thursday morning, tension rose as Muslims joined by political leaders in the village gathered outside the local police station and demanded that the accused be handed over to them.
Additional forces have been deployed to prevent any untoward incidents and to maintain law and order in the area, said the SSP.