Firozabad, June 01: A man has been arrested for beating a one-and-a-half-year-old child to death after a gunfight in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad.
Jitendra Pathak alias Viraj was shot in the leg in the encounter. He admitted that he wanted to marry the mother of the one-and-a-half-year-old child. But the woman refused the offer. She said that she already had a child and could not get married.
The accused Viraj, who thought that the fact that the woman named Rati was already married and that she had a son named Aarav would be an obstacle to his marriage, hatched a plan. On Saturday, he took the boy Aarav on the pretext of buying toffee and repeatedly beat him to death. By the time Aarav’s family members came to know about this, it was too late. They admitted him to the hospital, but the doctors declared him dead on arrival. By then, Viraj had absconded.
The child’s mother Rati has lodged a complaint with the police about the incident. Viraj had been constantly pressuring her to marry him and had taken him away on the promise of bringing toffees to Aarav.
The police had received intelligence that Viraj had been spotted near the Bhudha Bharta intersection on Mainpuri Road. A four-member team was formed and the area was cordoned off. The accused, who was hiding in the bushes, suddenly started firing at the personnel. The police returned fire. Viraj collapsed as soon as the bullet hit his leg and he was taken into custody.
A country-made pistol, five live cartridges and two spent shells were recovered from him.
During interrogation, Viraj revealed that he wanted to marry Rati but she had constantly refused. Rati had told him that she could not marry him as she already had a son. Viraj said that he was frustrated by the rejection and thought of killing the child.
“We are working to quickly collect all the evidence required to file a chargesheet in the court. We will try to ensure that the court gives him the strictest punishment,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Superintendent of Police (City), Firozabad.