Dog helps Delhi police solve kidnap, sodomy case

New Delhi: A 40-year-old paedophile-cum-murderer is now cooling his heels in jail after a sniffer dog helped the Delhi police crack open a case with no apparent clues. The accused, in a drunken state, abducted and sodomised a six-year-old boy before strangling him.

The police said that accused Ram Niwas, who hails from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, worked as a labour at a construction site and is a habitual offender. He was earlier arrested in 2009 for kidnapping and murdering a minor over financial row. 

The boy, the son of a tea-shop owner, had gone missing on August 11 while going home from the shop. A hunt was launched by local police and the body of the boy was found in a nursery situated close to the complainant’s tea shop on August 12. 

Door to door search in that locality was conducted and a sniffer dog was called to the spot. The dog led the team to an under-construction house where they learnt that labour Ram Niwas was missing.  

Immediately, police teams were sent to Bareilly and regular raids were conducted at his hideouts. On Friday, the team received a tip-off and apprehended accused Ram Niwas near Shamshan Ghat, Mandoli. On sustained interrogation, the accused disclosed that he came in contact with the complainant and became friendly with the latter’s brother’s 25-year-old grandson. 

They used to consume liquor at the site after work. On August 11 and 12, the construction work was closed. On August 11, after consuming liquor at around 6.30 pm, he saw the victim and called him inside the construction site where he forcefully sodomised him. When the minor told him that he would tell his father about the incident, the accused strangled him. Subsequ-ently, he disposed the dead body in a nearby nursery and fled from there.