Trio gets life term for teen's murder

HYDERABAD: Three people were sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court on Thursday for kidnapping and murdering 16-year-old Abhay Modhani at Shahinayatgunj in 2016. The accused had planned to extort money from Abhay's father and use the ransom to act in films. But their plan went awry after the boy died. The kidnappers had covered Abhay's mouth and nose with a duct tape, which led to his death.
The three offenders are - I Sheshu Kumar, 20, P Ravi, 21 and N Mohan, 23.All three are from Goshamahal. The victim was the son of a businessman, Raj Kumar Modhani, from Gyan Bagh in Shahinayatgunj.
Sheshu worked at Modhani's house. He, along with two other accused, hatched a plan to kidnap Abhay. As per the plan, on March 16 evening, Sheshu waited for Abhay near Mahalaxmi Tiffin Centre in Aghapura, which the boy visited frequently, and took him to his room nearby. The other accused were waiting at Sheshu's room. When Sheshu reached his room with Abhay, the trio tied Abhay's hands and legs and also covered his nose and mouth with duct tape.
While the trio was planning to make the ransom call, Abhay died of asphyxiation. The accused then packed Abhay's body in a carton and disposed it off near Alpha Hotel opposite the busy Secunderabad Railway Station.
After disposing the body, the accused fled from the city. On March 16, Sheshu called Abhay's father at 10pm and demanded a ransom of 10 crore. Meanwhile, police found Abhay's body and started tracking Sheshu's phone.
"After analysing CCTV camera footages from Shahinayatgunj to Secunderabad, police identified the accused and arrested them on March 20. After the trial, Metropolitan Sessions Court of Nampally sentenced the trio to life imprisonment on Thursday," West Zone DCP A Venkateswara Rao said.