7-year-old missing boy found dead in Mirzapur, one held

The Lucknow police recovered the body of a 7-year-old boy from Mirzapur on Saturday morning. The boy, Ashish Pandey, was missing since September 20. The body was recovered from thickets in Hallia area of Mirzapur district on the information provided by one of the accused, Mukesh Kumar Kol, who was arrested on Friday. Ashish was studying in Class 2 at a private school in Lucknow.

"Kol has confessed to the crime and said they kidnapped the boy to extort money from his parents," said Station Officer, Manak Nagar police station, Sudhir Kumar. He added efforts are being made to trace the other accused who have gone missing.

Kol told them that he and two of his associates — Pawan alias Vicky and Ravindra Kumar Sonkar alias Guddu — had kidnapped the boy from school on September 20. They killed the boy soon after kidnapping him because they feared to get identified, police said.

The driver of the car was also involved in the crime, Kol told the police.

"Kol is being brought to Lucknow on transit remand. After extensive questioning, the picture would be clear", Additional SP, East, Rajesh Kumar said.

Ashish had gone missing from school on September 20, after which his father Ratnesh Pandey lodged an FIR with the Manak Nagar police station.

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