Sonipat: An unsettling sense of gloom and fear has gripped the residents of TDI Espania Heights in Haryana’s Sonipat, ever since the body of an 8-year-old boy who lived here was found in a water tank in the housing society’s basement.
The children no longer play in the common area, even the grown-ups prefer to remain indoors.
The body of Arjit Tripathi was discovered last Tuesday, 12 hours after he went missing from the society’s common play area and briefly appeared on the complex’s CCTV cameras, and a few hours after his family received a ransom note. There were injury marks on the boy’s head and face, the police said.
Terming it a case of murder, the police have arrested a juvenile, alleging that the 15-year-old killed Arjit to make quick money. “The accused hit the boy with a tool and then strangulated him,” Rishikant, SHO of Bahalgarh police station, told ThePrint.
The police said that the juvenile had also confessed to the murder and been booked under Sections 364A (kidnapping), 302 (murder), and 387 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code after the victim’s family lodged an FIR.
Arjit was last seen on the society’s CCTV cameras, in the company of the accused juvenile, who had also been spotted visiting the housing society for the past 15 days.
However, the victim’s family and other residents of the society believe more people are involved in the case. Speaking to ThePrint, they said that the accused had told them separately that three men had given him money asking him to befriend Arjit, and that he had been asked to bring the child to the basement of the society.
He then left Arjit in the basement and ran away, the juvenile further told them, claimed the society residents.
Arjit’s family also said that a ransom note had been found in their house after he disappeared, but the police and the juvenile have remained tight-lipped about it.
Speaking to ThePrint, Sumit Tripathi, the boy’s uncle, claimed that the police were “trying to suppress a larger conspiracy in the murder”.
“A 15-year-old child cannot do all this. The police have taken no action on whatever the juvenile has told us,” he said.
SHO Rishikant, however, said, “We have not found anything to support the allegations of the society members. The minor has confessed to the crime. He had been meeting the victim for 2-3 months. The accused is from a poor family and did all this for money.”
He added: “The accused believed the family in question was wealthy. The victim’s father lied to his friends and family about how much money he made.”
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The evening Arjit disappeared
Arjit’s father Ajit Tripathi had relocated from Lucknow to Sonipat with his wife and two children in February this year. They were living on rent in TDI Espania Heights.
Arjit was used to playing in the society’s common area every day and on 15 May too, he left his flat around 5 pm for the same.
According to his family, he disappeared from the common play area of the society around 6 pm. When he didn’t return home that evening, the family and some other residents embarked on a frantic search, which continued late into the night. Finally, the police were called around 9 pm.
Arjit’s body was found in the society’s basement at around 7.30 am the next day. “We found the body in the basement where a half-cut water tank was kept,” said the SHO.
However, those who had searched for Arjit along with his family said they had looked into the basement many times but did not find anything. “Not one but 50-60 men were searching together. They could not find the child,” property trader Pradeep Simhar, who has a shop near the society and was part of the search efforts, told ThePrint.
“We had looked into every building in the nearby area three or four times without success. The police did nothing at first,” he alleged.
Those who were part of the search team said they had spotted Arjit with the juvenile in his last appearance on the society’s CCTV cameras.
“We identified the juvenile after watching the CCTV footage and knew he lived in a nearby society. But when we went to his house, his mother said he was not at home,” Ravi Pandit, a resident of TDI Espania Heights, told ThePrint.
He was among the members of the search team who allegedly spotted the juvenile on a road near the society while they were returning from the police station late night on 15 May.
“When we saw him, his actions were very strange. He was continuously looking around. When we caught him, he first tried to pull away but then proceeded to narrate his story,” Pandit claimed.
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Juvenile’s version of events
The accused juvenile is a student of Class 11. Espania Heights residents told ThePrint he had once been accused of stealing a bicycle and his family was evicted from their society. They then went on to live in another complex a few kilometres away.
When questioned about Arjit, the juvenile is said to have told the society’s search team that three men had given him money to become friends with the child.
The society members told ThePrint that they had recorded the juvenile’s story on video — which ThePrint has accessed.
“A man in a white safari car came up to me and asked if I could befriend Arjit. There were others in the vehicle. He said he would pay me between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 for the job. He provided tasty refreshments as well,” the juvenile is purportedly heard saying in the video.
“I was also told that the day I managed to bring Arjit to the society basement, I would be paid Rs 50,000,” he adds.
In the video, he further claims that he lured Arjit to the basement, left him there and ran away. There were other men there. One of them gave him Rs 5,000, and he didn’t know what happened after that, he said.
Arjit’s uncle said: “The accused further told us that when he left Arjit in the basement, one of the men present there informed him that if he looked back, he would be killed.”
People from the search team said the juvenile had also showed them a place where the men who had contacted him allegedly used to meet and talk.
“The boy took us to a flat in the nearby TDI Espania Royale Heights society which was locked. When we broke the lock, liquor bottles were found inside the flat,” said Simhar, a resident, alleging that “the police didn’t even explore this angle”.
After hearing and recording the juvenile’s story, the society residents handed him over to the police.
The ransom note
The series of events is further complicated by the appearance of a ransom note in Arijit’s house, which was spotted around 3 am on Tuesday, hours before his body was found, and appeared to have been slipped underneath the door. The juvenile had already been caught by the society members by then.
The letter, which ThePrint has accessed, sought Rs 6 lakh from the family, asking the money to be delivered at gate 2 of TDI Espania Royale Heights society at 5 am.
On the juvenile’s version of events given to the society members, the police said they would go by what the boy had confessed to them.
According to the police, the accused took Arjit to the basement and when he started screaming and shouting, he hit Arjit on the head and face and then strangled him.
The police also claimed that the accused was fond of watching films and had learned about kidnapping from them.
They added that after committing the murder, the juvenile had gone home, had food and then slipped the ransom letter through the door of Arjit’s house.
“We were arranging for the money that had been demanded when we got a call from the police saying the child’s body had been found,” Arjit’s uncle Sumit said.
‘A sweet and intelligent child’
Arjit’s neighbours and residents of the society remember him as a good student who was friendly and respectful, and who wanted to be an athlete.
“They were a peaceful family and never said anything to anyone. The child used to talk to everyone and was quite respectful,” Rahul, a society resident, told ThePrint.
Sumit also said his nephew “never used to quarrel and used to respect everyone”.
“He was a top student. Skating was a skill he had picked up in just a day,” he said, adding that “if Arjit had candy or chocolates, he would always share with his brother”.
Deepak Saini, who runs a grocery shop near the society, told ThePrint that Arjit used to frequently come to his shop to buy milk. “He was a sweet and intelligent child. He was also fond of collecting old coins. He always used to ask me, ‘uncle, if you have old coins, then give them to me’. If one has to see the body of a child with whom one conversed so much, it shakes the soul,” Saini added tearfully.
Another society resident, Neetu Singh, also broke down while remembering Arjit. “He was such a cute and innocent child. I used to see him playing every day, sometimes with the juvenile,” she said.
A sense of ‘injustice’
Ravi Pandit, a resident quoted earlier, said there is an environment of fear in the society. “The brutal killing of the child has shaken everyone. Three to four families have already vacated the society and it has been days since the children came out of their houses,” he said.
His words were echoed by grocery store owner Saini, who said the number of visitors to his shop had decreased and some families had left their houses out of of insecurity and fear.
“All parents have now decided that one person will stay with the children in the play area everyday to supervise them,” Neetu, quoted earlier, said.
There are about 900 flats in the society, of which 450 are occupied.
“Some people who live alone here are also fearing for themselves now. The police have not probed whether other people were involved in Arjit’s murder. We all are fearing for our lives,” Pandit said.
The victim’s family has now gone to Lucknow to perform the last rites of Arjit, but they plan to return and fight for justice for him.
Arjit’s uncle Sumit said that the family had become the victim of a conspiracy. “We are not locals so we were targeted. The police were not even willing to listen to us. The society people supported us, and that’s why the police took some action, otherwise they were not ready to do anything. A complaint and FIR were also lodged only after the society members went to the police station.”
“We will return after cremating the child. The police are trying to hide something in this matter,” he added.
SHO Rishikant denied any lapses in the police investigation. “The police have not committed any negligence. We have not hidden anything either.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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