Naroda police officials revealed this a day after arresting the duo on the charges of Krunal's murder. A city court on Wednesday remanded Parmar and Gohil in police custody till January 27.

Parmar and Gohil, said police, aspired to establish a plastic products' manufacturing unit so that they can have a permanent source of income. “The total amount of money needed for their 'dream factory' was estimated to be around Rs 40 lakh,” Naroda inspector, P R Pandya said.

Pandya said Krunal was chosen as the target by the accused as it was easier to kidnap the boy who was well acquainted with them. "After successfully extorting Rs 5 lakh from their brother-in-law (Krunal's father, Hasmukh Gohil, an estate agent) Parmar and Gohil had plans to execute some more kidnaps for accumulating the needed money," Pandya added.

Preliminary police investigation reveals that the duo had kidnapped Krunal on the pretext of taking the latter on a drive on the scooter of Gohil's father. "The two took Krunal to Gohil's house and made ransom calls on Hasmukh's mobile phone. The phone that they used was a stolen one and is owned by a resident of Surat. Gohil had got this phone through his 'contacts'," police said.

Investigations further revealed that Krunal was strangled to death, because Gohil during his casual visit to Hasmukh's residence on Tuesday had overheard the latter saying to people that he had intimated police about the ransom calls.

The duo strangled Krunal and later packed his body inside a mattress cover. "The duo then drove to Kharicut canal and disposed the boy's body there late on Tuesday. The body was later spotted by some locals," Pandya said.