Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 1 (IANS): A Class 9 student of the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Mathura was found brutally murdered, about 500 meters from his house.

The boy had gone missing on Wednesday and his body was found on Thursday.

The post-mortem report revealed the cause of death as 'asphyxia due to throttling'.

According to reports, the boy, Harsh Thakur, 14, had gone out from his house around noon on Wednesday and when he did not return till late in the evening, his family approached the police.

Superintendent of Police (city) M.P. Singh said that search operations were launched to locate him but they failed to trace him.

However, on Thursday, the boy's body was found in the jungle.

"The boy was last spotted in CCTV footage of the area around 12.41 p.m. with a polythene bag carrying food. When inquired, a local shopkeeper confirmed that he took four packs of chowmein and two pastries from his shop," the SP said.

"The post-mortem report reveals that the boy died in the afternoon and antemortem injuries were reported in the autopsy report.

When the body was found, it was noticed that his face and head had been crushed with a heavy stone.

Harsh's mobile phone was also missing and the police were trying to locate it.

"Harsh got a mobile phone just a few months back and he had started his Instagram account as a video creator. He was very active on Instagram and made several videos," said his elder brother.

The victim's father works in a private firm and his mother is a housewife.

The police suspect that since Harsh had got food packed, he may have gone to meet his friends and something untoward happened there.

The police are interrogating his friends.