On February 7, Parvesh, 7 -- son of a local businessman -- was found missing from his home in Samaipur Badli. He was last seen playing outside his house. A neighbour vaguely recalled seeing Rai Singh who works as a labourer in a local factory and Pappu in the vicinity, but didn't make much of it. DCP (north-west) Satyendra Garg says the police thought otherwise. They questioned the youths, but the latter initially said they didn't know Parvesh.

Then, on Wednesday, Parvesh's father received a hand-written ransom note. In the note, the undersigned claimed he had kidnapped Parvesh and would release him only if the family paid Rs 1.10 lakh. The money was supposed to be delivered to a contact near Siraspur Park in the area. Otherwise, they threatened, Parvesh would be killed.

DCP Garg says the police went back to Rai Singh and Pappu and asked them to give a sample of their handwriting. ``We dictated the contents of the ransom note and asked them to write in it down toto. Even before we could match the two, the youths broke down''.

Rai Singh and Pappu reportedly told the police that on February 7 they lured Parvesh to an isolated area by offering him chocolates. Their friend, Sadar-e-Alam also joined them. The trio then took Parvesh to an unoccupied DTC-owned plot of land. Shielded from onlookers because of a high boundary wall, they strangled the boy and hid the body under some bushes. ``The youths posted the ransom note only after killing Parvesh. They had demanded Rs 1.10 lakh because they wanted to spend Rs 10,000 initially and invest the remaining money in some business only after the police slowed down investigations,'' says Garg.

He adds: ``Three years ago, Parvesh's parents had beaten up Rai Singh for molesting their daughter. Since then he had been wanting to take revenge. He had also being eyeing their wealth. He and his accomplices thought that by kidnapping Parvesh they could achieve both purposes''.