Pratap, who is absconding, also tutored his 11-year-old victim Pushpendra Thakur, police sources have said.

Officers said Pratap — originally from Gorakhpur — taught at Little Kingdom in Arthala and was a neighbour of the Thakurs. “He gave Pushpendra tuitions,” an officer said. On Monday morning, Pratap abducted the boy while he was on his way to school, said Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad, Anant Dev. He then called the mother and asked for Rs 200. He needed the money to visit his father, Pratap told her.

The boy was found dead — his throat slit open with a sharp object — in a suitcase in Pratap’s house. The door was also locked from outside, Dev said. The incident occurred a little after 3 pm, officers said.

Sources said there was an old enmity between Pratap and Pushpendra’s father Ravi Thakur. Pratap had once followed Thakur’s elder daughter — a student of Class IX — in one of her trips to Delhi some time ago. He told the neighbours that two boys were in the team of her friends. When Thakur heard of this from the neighbours, he severely rebuked Pratap for spreading canards about his daugher.

A senior official said: “Pratap felt insulted and probably this was his revenge.” During his conversation with Pushpendra’s mother, Pratap had allegedly mentioned this incident.