TNN
 
New Delhi, Mar 20: In what appears to be a shocking case of recession-related crime, a first-year student of chartered accountancy kidnapped and then murdered a 12-year-old neighbour at Rohini in northwest Delhi on Wednesday night reportedly because he wanted money to offset the losses suffered by his exporter father.

The victim, Manan Mahajan, a student of Class VI at Bal Bharati Public School, had stepped out of his home at Sector 11, Rohini, on Wednesday evening to buy a pen and didn't return. A few hours later, his father, who is a property dealer and builder, received SMSes seeking ransom. The demand kept rising from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 7 crore.

Tracing the SMSes to a mobile in the same locality, the police on Thursday morning detained Manan's neighbour, Jeevak Nagpal, who confessed to the crime and led cops to the victim's body dumped at Deep Vihar in Rohini.

Jeevak, whose father is a leather exporter who had reportedly been running up debt for the past few years and was badly hit by the economic meltdown, told the police that he had lured Manan into his WagonR on the pretext of giving him a joyride. Jeevak has no previous crime record, police said.

``We have been staying in this area for the past several years and had no enmity with anyone,'' said Manan's uncle, Brajesh Mahajan. ``After he didn't return home for over an hour, we frantically searched for him and then informed the police.''

At 10.30pm, Rajesh Mahajan, the victim's father who was away in Chandigarh on work, received an SMS demanding Rs 25 lakh for the boy's release. The message has actually been sent around 7.30pm, when Mahajan's phone was switched off. ``It was only when Rajesh called us that we realized that Manan had been kidnapped and we informed the local police,'' said the victim's grandfather, M L Mahajan, who retired as a reader at DU.

Jeevak told the police that after driving some distance, Manan grew restless and demanded that he be dropped home. When Jeevak asked the boy to shut up, he tried to jump out of the car. ``That's when Jeevak, in a fit of anger, strangled the boy to death inside the car. He then drove back to Sector 24 in Rohini and sent a couple of messages to Rajesh Mahajan increasing the ransom money to Rs 55 lakh and then to Rs 7 crore,'' a police officer said.

Police said, meanwhile, the CA student's car developed a snag but he managed to drive to Deep Vihar and dumped the body there. At 8.25pm, Jeevak called up a friend asking for a crane to tow his car. The car was then towed back to his Sector 11 house.

But instead of going to his home, Jeevak decided to visit the Mahajans'. The cops started suspecting the involvement of someone known to the family as the nature of the messages changed. ``The SMSes showed that the kidnapper was aware about what was going on in the family at that time. We traced the location of the mobile to Rohini but it was still difficult to nail him,'' the officer said.

``The mobile was switched off late at night. But when another message was sent in the morning, a team led by Inspector Amandeep Sehgal zeroed on Jeevak's house and apprehended him,'' added the officer.

Two SIM cards purchased on fake names and addresses and a mobile phone was seized from him. ``His sustained interrogation revealed that he had plotted the kidnapping of Manan to tide over the financial losses of his father's business,'' said DCP (outer) Atul Katiyar.

Jeevak's younger brother is an engineering student at Ludhiana. The cops have also seized the WagonR used in the crime. They are now examining the role of Jeevak's family members and friend in the crime.