In a moment of anger, a 35-year-old stepfather allegedly strangled his three-year-old stepson to death and buried him at an isolated spot in North-East Delhi's Karawal Nagar area on June 25. According to the police, Mahesh was miffed with his wife since she paid more attention to the toddler.
AK Singla, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) said that Mahesh was arrested from the Anand Vihar ISBT on the same day he killed his stepson.
A senior police officer said, "As per the complaint of Kiran, wife of the accused, he returned to their Mukund Vihar house in an inebriated state. The next morning, on June 25, Mahesh told his wife that he was taking Arjun along with him for some household chores. An unsuspecting Kiran let the boy go with his stepfather.
later in the evening at around 6.30 pm Kiran got a call from Rinku, a relative of Mahesh, telling her about her son’s death.
Mahesh had confessed to Rinku that in the evening, he took Arjun to his factory, which was closed and strangulated him. He then buried Arjun's body under some sacks and left.
A shocked Rinku called Kiran who then rushed to the vacant factory and found her son’s body lying under some sacks. She informed the police and a case was registered. Police launched a hunt to arrest Mahesh.
Based on his mobile phone location, Mahesh was arrested from Anand Vihar bus terminus the same day before he could flee from here, said the DCP.
According to another senior police official, Kiran shared that this was her second marriage. She was earlier married to Pratap with whom she had two sons — a 10-year-old boy and 3-year-old Arjun. Her elder son stays with her ex-husband in West Bengal. Arjun lived with Kiran, who married Mahesh around a year ago. The woman told police that Mahesh used to beat her and abuse her. She claimed that Mahesh would often return home drunk and would not even contribute to household expenses, they said.
Police said that Mahesh disclosed that he felt Kiran's attention was completely on her son and she never devoted time to him. He also told police that Kiran would often talk about her first husband too.