Meerut: A 16-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut allegedly killed his 17-year-old friend for stealing his girlfriend’s photos and videos alongside blackmailing her, The Times of India reported.
The victim and the accused, both class 11 students, were used to going together to a coaching centre some 15 km away from their homes in order to prepare for engineering entrance exams.
They went to coaching class on Saturday but the victim did not return in the evening.
The victim’s father filed a missing person complaint with the police after the accused said he did not know where his friend was, according to NDTV.
Police questioned the accused after examining CCTV footage that showed they were together.
During questioning the accused confessed to murdering his friend.
The accused reportedly told the police that his friend had transferred some photos and videos of his girlfriend to his phone and started blackmailing her.
When the accused learnt about this from his girlfriend, he plotted the murder.
On Saturday, the accused wanted to sell his phone and they sold it at a shop for Rs 8,000 and ate at a restaurant.
On their way back when they stopped by a tubewell, the accused pulled out a hammer out of his bag and hit his friend.
The accused told the police that he hit his friend even after he had fallen to the ground.
The victim’s family refused to cremate the body saying that the accused could not have committed the crime on his own. They demanded the police to arrest other accused.
Meerut City SP Ayush Vikram Singh said: ‘The accused has said there were some videos of him and his girlfriend on his phone and Abhinav had stolen them. He was upset and he planned this. We have recovered the body and the hammer. We have taken the accused into custody. He is a minor and he will be produced in court. We will scan the CCTV footage to see if anyone else is involved in the crime and take action. The family is demanding action against everyone involved and we will do it.’