Aunt and her lover conspired to kidnap and murder five-year-old boy

LUCKNOW: Barely two months into her marriage with a visuallyimpaired man, Nidhi Shukla, 21, colluded with her paramour, Jaswant to get her five-year-old nephew, Keshav Shukla, kidnapped for ransom, and then murdered, to escape identification. The boy was kidnapped from outside his house in sector A of Sitapur Road Yojna of Madiyaon, when he had gone out to attend a religious gathering with his grandmother, and was later strangulated to death in Rae Bareli. The duo had three other accomplices - Kuldeep Shukla, 25, Suraj alias Chhotu, 18, and Hiralal.

Cops recovered the boy’s remains from a deserted place near Ramgaon village in Rae Bareli, on Thursday, after arresting Nidhi, Jaswant, Kuldeep and Chottu. Hiralal (Chhotu’s maternal cousin) is still at large. Stray dogs and other wild animals had eaten up Keshav’s body and only his skull and jaw could be recovered from the crime scene, said Circle Officer (CO), Aliganj, Rajesh Yadav. The recovered parts would be sent to a forensic lab for DNA sampling, to establish the identity of the deceased, he added.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Trans-Gomti, Mani Ram Yadav said, “The boy was targeted as he was dear to everyone, being the only male member blessed with eyesight. Others, including his grandfather Rajiv, father Manish, uncle Ashish (Nidhi’s husband) and younger brother Madhav, were visually impaired.” Nidhi was sure that the family would easily pay ransom for Keshav and convinced Jaswant to kidnap him, added Ram Yadav. The ASP also informed that Nidhi knew that the family had collected around Rs 10 lakh to purchase land and had tipped off Jaswant about the right time to kidnap the boy.

“The miscreants murdered Keshav just a few hours after the kidnapping, as they were familiar to him and stood the risk of identification if he was left alive,” said the ASP. “The family reported the matter to police a few hours after the boy failed to return home and a kidnapping case was lodged on Sunday night.” He informed.

CRIME DETAILS

The kidnapping plan was hatched about 15 days ago. As per sources, Nidhi had first asked Jaswant to steal the cash, as all the male members were visually impaired. However, Jaswant warned her that in the case of a house theft she would be the first suspect. That’s when she suggested kidnapping Keshav instead.

“Jaswant and Chottu had been staying at a rented place opposite the boy’s house for two months. They became familiar with Kuldeep Shukla, who stayed as a tenant in Keshav’s house, and included Kuldeep in the plan. Jaswant also got acquainted with the victim,” said Santosh Singh, inspector of Madiyaon police station. Sources revealed that Jaswant and Nidhi had been in a relationship before her marriage to Ashish, on June 5, this year. A visually impaired man was selected on purpose so that the two could continue their relationship. The couple also planned to elope once they got the ransom money, which Jaswant had planned to use to start a new business.

The inspector informed that on Sunday, Jaswant lured the boy with Rs 10 note and took him to the Ram Ram Bank crossing where he handed him over to Kuldeep and Chottu. His accomplices took away Keshav to Chottu’s native village Ramgaon, Raebareli, and held him captive for about three-four hours. “As per Jaswant’s direction, Chottu and Heera Lal killed the boy and disposed off the body in a deserted place. Chottu too came back to Lucknow after spending a day in his village,” said Singh. He informed the first ransom call was made on Tuesday morning by Chottu, using a new SIM card. Later a Wednesday rendezvous at Inhauna crossing, Raebareli was decided upon. It was here that the cops nabbed Chottu.

To steer clear of any suspicion, accused Jaswant and Kuldeep pretended to search for the boy along with his family. They also tried keeping tab on police activity.