New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS): The body of a 10-year-old boy was found on the roof of a mosque in northeast Delhi's Khajuri Khas area. The boy went missing on Thursday evening after he left for the mosque from his home. The Delhi Police later apprehended two juveniles for the murder of the child as they had intended to kidnap the boy and later demand money from his parents.

The body was found on Friday night under piled-up construction material on the second floor of the mosque after the relatives, friends and police launched a search operation soon after the boy went missing. It took a day to trace the body.

"We searched for the boy locally and then again went to trace the boy inside the mosque as we had strong suspicion that the boy went missing inside the mosque. Finally, we traced the body from the construction material piled up on the roof and informed police," said Faisal, a local of the area.

The boy went to the mosque to study on Thursday evening but did not return home. Later the father of the boy got a call from the Maulvi of the mosque to inquire about the boy's whereabouts.

"I got a call at around 8:15 pm on Thursday from the Imam of the mosque if my son has returned home. We then started searching in the vicinity. Soon, the relatives too joined in," said Shameem, the father of the deceased.

All the persons present in the Madina Masjid at the time of evening prayer at about 7.15 pm were examined and it was established that the child was last seen with his two juvenile friends aged around 12 and 17 years.

"On the basis of the available clues, both the suspects were examined separately in detail and their versions were verified through the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity at the various locations. Contradictions were noticed in their versions hence, they were thoroughly examined. On sustained examination, both confessed to killing the missing boy," said Ved Prakash Surya, DCP, North East Delhi.

During examination, both the juveniles presented their theory, that they wanted to extort money from deceased's father by kidnapping him. To execute their plan, about 10 days ago, they also gave the child water laced with sleeping pills, but nothing happened to the child and their plan failed.

In their second attempt on Friday, they lured the child to the second floor of the mosque and strangulated him. When the child died, they hid his body in the debris placed at the corner of the 2nd floor of the mosque and placed a plastic bag containing sand over the body to hide it completely.