Textile mill worker from Odisha arrested for murdering six-year-old boy near Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu

Kanhu Das who is from Ranital in Odisha was arrested on November 14

The police have arrested an employee of a textile mill at Karanampettai in Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu, on the charge of murdering a six-year-old boy, son of his co-worker, who is also from Odisha.

Kanhu Das (34) who is from Ranital in Odisha was arrested on November 14 for murdering Ganesh, son of Anita Naik from Suramani village in Ganjam district in Odisha.

Ms. Naik found her son missing when she returned to the labourers’ quarters at Sangothipalayam after work around 7.30 p.m. on November 8. She used to leave him under the care of a woman at the quarters. The woman lodged a complaint with the Palladam police around 11.30 p.m. and the boy was found murdered outside the compound wall of the quarters the next day.

Das, who was working as a supervisor of the mill, became one of the suspects during the investigation as he had a break-up with the boy’s mother Ms. Naik, who also worked at the same mill.

Investigators found out that the mill had recently demoted Das to a labourer, after he was found working under the influence of alcohol. Meanwhile, another employee, namely Suresh, was promoted to the post of the supervisor. “Das developed an animosity towards Mr. Suresh and the boy’s mother, as they allegedly became close to each other,” said the police.

“Believing that Mr. Suresh and Ms. Naik were responsible for his demotion, Das plotted to murder the woman’s son Ganesh. He believed that Ms. Naik would leave the place along with Suresh if her son died and he could regain the supervisor’s position,” the police said.

According to investigators, Das invited Ganesh to collect peafowl eggs on November 6 in an attempt to lure him to a deserted place for murder. The child, however, refused to go with him. Das lured the boy again on November 8, when he was playing with two other kids on the premises of the quarters. He took the three children to thickets near the compound wall, on the pretext of collecting peafowl eggs.

“After reaching the spot, he diverted the two other kids and led Ganesh towards the compound wall. Ganesh was told that they needed to scale the wall to find peafowl eggs. He helped the boy climb the wall and pushed him to the other side. Das reached the other side by crawling through an opening at the bottom of the wall. He found the boy lying on the ground and smothered him to death,” said Palladam inspector R. Mathaiyan.

Das confessed to the murder during questioning, following which the police arrested on November 14. He was remanded to judicial custody the next day.

Published - November 17, 2024 03:48 pm IST