‘Saw him washing floor’: Odisha teen kills younger brother; felt sidelined, neglected by parents; buries body near home

BHUBANESWAR: A 17-year-old teenager killed his 12-year-old younger brother and buried the body close to their house one-and-a-half months back without giving the slightest hint until police arrested him at Titilagarh in Balangir on Saturday. The accused told police that he committed the crime because he constantly felt sidelined and neglected because his parents paid more attention to his sibling.For around 45 days it was a blind case for the police. But a vital clue provided by the accused's parents during questioning unravelled the mystery. The accused's mother told police that when she returned home on June 28 evening, her elder son (the accused) was washing the floor.When police asked if he did it regularly, she replied in the negative bringing the older sibling under the purview of the investigation. He confessed to the crime soon after. Sources said the accused tried to clean the blood after he stabbed his younger brother. The accused used an agricultural tool kept in the house to dig the pit twice, once immediately after the murder and again late at night on the same day, police said.IGP (northern range) Himanshu Kumar Lal said the boy first buried the body inside the house and then late in the night shifted it to another place nearby, fearing his parents would suspect if the body remained inside. "After it was ascertained that the older sibling was involved, it was not tough to establish the crime. So we exhumed the body," he said.Parents lodged missing complaint on June 29, says SP SP (Balangir) Abilash G said the parents, both daily-wage labourers, lodged a missing complaint at Titlagarh police station on June 29. Initially police suspected it to be a case of child trafficking. "Though police officers were deployed strategically and all CCTV cameras were scanned, we were getting no result. Interrogation of the parents time and again led to the detection," the SP said. The minor accused in the case is being treated under the category of Children In Conflict with Law (CICL).