5-Year-Old Strangled To Death by Mom, Uncle After The Kid Walked In On Them Having Sex

A 5-year-old child who has been reported missing was strangled to death by the boy's mother and his uncle after he accidentally discovered an affair between the two, police said.

Almost three years after 5-year-old Hardik Patel went missing from Ahmedabad, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the police arrested Hardik's mother, Jyotsna Patel, and his dad's younger brother, Ramesh Patel, after they reportedly confessed to killing the boy.

The duo admitted that Hardik was strangled to death on Sept. 26, 2018, after the child happened to see them in a compromised position. They told the police that they killed Hardik as they feared he will reveal their relationship to others in the family. They initially tried to burn the child's body and later threw his half-burnt body parts in a canal, police said, as reported by Times of India.

Two days after Hardik's death, the family registered a missing complaint at the police station. The police and the villagers searched for the missing boy but did not get any lead. Meanwhile, Ramesh went to the place where Hardik's body was burned, dug out the remains and threw them in a canal, police said. He even joined the search team when the whole village started looking for the boy.

During the initial investigation, police found a suspicious ransom note addressed to the victim's father.

“The ransom note, which was addressed to Hardik’s father, used his nickname suggesting that someone close to him had written it. This raised our suspicion that someone close to the family was involved in the disappearance of the boy," Lavina Sinha, Assistant Superintendent of Police, investigating the case said, Ahmedabad Mirror reported.

When the case was reopened recently as part of a drive to find missing persons, the police got reports from the villagers about the alleged affair between the suspects. Ramesh reportedly shifted out of the village after the child's death, raising suspicions against him. When the suspects were summoned for questioning, the investigators also found discrepancies in their statements.

The police said both the suspects were booked on murder and criminal conspiracy charges.