10-yr-old boy’s body found in Mansa village borewell, 1 booked

The body of a 10-year-old boy was found in a 10-feet-deep borewell at Ghurkani village in Mansa district on Monday evening.

Gurmeet Singh, aka, Pamma, a student of Class 6, went missing on Sunday evening. Gurmeet’s father Sarbjeet Singh, a farm labourer at Ghurkani village, said they launched a search the same night, but failed to trace him. The boy’s body was located in the borewell in a field with a cloth tied around his neck.

Police have booked Manpreet Singh, alias Kala, of the same village under Section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the IPC on Sarbjeet’s complaint.

Sarbjeet alleged that Manpreet was having illicit relationship with his younger brother’s wife Soni Kaur, and used to threaten his family.

“Manpreet is absconding and a hunt has been launched to nab him,” said Jhunir station house officer Jagdev Singh.

“It seems the boy was choked to death before being strangled. We are waiting for the post-mortem report which will reveal if the child was sexually abused or not. The body has been handed over to the family after autopsy,” the SHO said.