Odisha: Missing boy’s body found in septic tank after 5 days, uncle arrested

Five days after an 11-year-old boy went missing in a village of Odisha’s Puri district, the police recovered his rotting corpse from a septic tank on Sunday evening.

The body was recovered from the septic tank of a person in Ratanpur village of Puri. The boy’s uncle, Prabhakar Sahoo, confessed to the crime after several days of interrogation. He has been arrested and charged with murder, though he has not revealed the motive till now.

Police officials of Delanga station said the 11-year-old was last seen playing outside his house on April 16 evening. Family members said the boy had returned home at 6 pm after dropping his eight-year-old sister at her tutor’s residence in the same village.

However, he went missing by the time his mother went to give him evening snacks 15 minutes later. His parents lodged a complaint with the Delanga police.

Villagers said the accused was a distant relative of the deceased child. “He stayed close to the victim’s house. The kid was playing cricket and was seen talking with him,” a villager said.

After the body was recovered, a large crowd gathered outside the house of the accused and vandalised his property.