Uttar Pradesh: Dalit minor asking for wages killed by employer, buried in same farm victim tilled

A Dalit boy was killed by the owner of farmland after he asked for the wages he had earned tilling the farm in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The accused, who was on the run, was arrested on Tuesday.

Firozabad:Police Tuesday cracked the horrific killing of a 14-year-old Dalit boy in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The accused Sumit was arrested on Tuesday and produced before a court from where he was sent to jail.

The victim who was working as a daily wager was asking for the payment of the due money from Sumit on whose farmland he was working as a labourer. On October 19 around 6 p.m., Sumit took the minor victim on his tractor for harvesting potatoes on his farmland. But, he did not return. A suspected case of kidnapping was filed by the victim's father on October 21.

A police team was formed to solve the case. During the course of the investigation, it came to light that the accused hit the boy with his tractor's harrow leading to his death. After killing him, he buried the body in his farmland and sowed potato crops on it so that no one could suspect him. The accused kept on telling the victim's father that the minor victim left after the work was over and feigned ignorance about his whereabouts.

The accused even cooperated with the police during the initial investigation, however, he soon fled after police suspected he was the killer. Narkhi police station in-charge, Rajesh Pandey, said that a case was filed on October 21 by the victim's father, a resident of Salampur, stating that his son had gone out for work as a daily wager along with Sumit and Amit, both residents of the same village. But his son did return home after work in the evening.

"Earlier, the accused was cooperating with the police during the investigation of the case. But suddenly he disappeared. The police acted on an informer's input and arrested Krishna from near a temple. He was produced before the court on Tuesday and later forwarded to jail," said the police officer.