Kerala teen strangled, body dumped in sack; schoolmate, his girlfriend caught

Two people, including an 18-year-old woman, have been arrested, and a teenage boy has been detained after a 17-year-old boy's body was found stuffed in a sack and dumped in a vacant plot in Thiruvananthapuram, police said on Tuesday.The third accused in the case is a 22-year-old man named Umar, who has a background of involvement in other criminal cases and is facing proceedings under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA), officials said.According to the police, both the accused teenagers were acquaintances of the victim. The duo were in a romantic relationship and had allegedly lured the victim into coming to a secluded spot.He went missing from his home on Sunday afternoon. The minor accused has allegedly admitted to killing him. On Tuesday, the victim's father raised serious doubts over the circumstances surrounding the murder, claiming that his son was not the intended target and was killed after he refused to bring another boy to the spot at the request of the accused.The interrogation appeared to confirm the doubt, as investigators purportedly found that the teenage boy's actual target was the victim's friend, who was dating his ex-girlfriend. The victim's parents approached the police after he failed to return home. His body was later found during a probe as part of which some of his friends were questioned.Initial examination indicated that the boy had been strangled, a police officer said.According to the father, the juvenile accused had called his son using a phone belonging to the 18-year-old woman, and asked him to come to a certain location.Upon reaching the spot, the victim was allegedly asked to bring his friend there. His father claimed that the group was actually looking for the other person and that his son was killed after he refused to cooperate.The victim's father also questioned the claim that the 17-year-old alone committed the murder.He suspects that the teenager may have taken the blame for the crime to shield others, as he is a juvenile and would be subjected to a comparatively lighter punishment under the law."How could a 17-year-old have committed such a crime all by himself? I suspect that he has been made to take the blame for others," the father said, according to news agency PTI.He further claimed that the police had failed to question the teenager properly when he was initially detained.Instead of continuing the questioning, the police allegedly allowed him to leave with his father after asking him to return to the police station the following morning.The 17-year-old has been named as the first accused in the case. The victim's father said a proper probe at that stage could have proved crucial in uncovering the truth sooner.He also sought to know what transpired in the hours between the two rounds of questioning. He said that while his son and the 17-year-old accused had studied at the same school, they were not close friends.The victim's father also asserted that his son had no particular reason to visit the isolated location unless he had been specifically asked to come there."This should not be treated as an ordinary murder case. I want the entire conspiracy behind my son's death to be brought out," he said.The 17-year-old accused had allegedly enlisted Umar's help to dispose of the body. The woman allegedly gave the other accused advice on how to destroy evidence.- Ends(With additional inputs from PTI)