Prayagraj: A man murdered his 17-year-old grandnephew, severed his head and torso, and threw the body parts in different locations, allegedly on the advice of a tantrik, a police official said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Sharan Singh, has been arrested from the Kareli area of Prayagraj, he said.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Bharti, Sharan was the brother of the victim’s grandfather.
“He was arrested on Wednesday night. During interrogation, Sharan confessed to the murder of his grandnephew Piyush and explained his motive,” he said.
The DCP said Sharan’s son and daughter had committed suicide in 2023 and 2024, respectively. In his grief, Sharan consulted a tantrik, asking why his children had died. The tantrik allegedly told him that Piyush was supposed to have died, and because he did not, Sharan’s own children have perished in his place. The tantrik then advised Sharan to kill the boy.
Piyush, a Class 11 student at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, was reported missing on Tuesday. The boy had left for school but never came back. When his worried mother, Kamini Devi, went to the school, she discovered that Piyush had not shown up that day. She filed a missing person report at the Kareli police station.
The police then launched an investigation. On Tuesday, they found a torso in a drain in the Naini industrial area. However, the body could not be identified at the time as the head was missing.
On Wednesday, Piyush’s head was discovered in the Saidpur Kachhar area in Kareli, leading to the identification of his body.
During further police inquiry, a local woman revealed that she had seen a man on a scooter throwing a bundle into the drain. Her description of the individual matched that of Sharan, and he was arrested.
According to police, Sharan has admitted that he killed the teenager and dismembered his body. He wrapped the boy’s torso in a sari and used his scooter to dump it in the drain near Kuria Lawayan village.
Sharan is now in custody, and the investigation is continuing, the DCP said.