The Santacruz police have arrested a man from Bihar for allegedly kidnapping and killing a nine-year-old boy in Santacruz. The accused, Maheshwari Mukhiya, 31, a garment shop worker, has been sent to police custody until November 19 by the court on Monday.

According to the police, the boy, the son of an auto-rickshaw driver, had gone to the Chowpatty on November 7 with his family for Chhat Puja and went missing there. The family approached the police and lodged a missing report after searching until late at night. On November 8, a case was registered and three days later a decomposed body of the boy was found near a shop, merely five minutes from his home.

The autopsy report revealed that the child was strangled to death and a section of destroying evidence was also added in the case. In the investigation, which included analysing 40 CCTV footage, the accused Mukhia, who works in a garment shop, was seen walking with the boy.

The investigation revealed that since the boy’s disappearance, Mukhiya had also been missing, which made the police suspicious. Once it was revealed that Mukhiya had fled to a village in Bihar, the police went to Bihar and arrested him. The accused later confessed to the murder of the boy. It is suspected that Mukhiya may have sexually assaulted the child before killing him. The police have registered the case under sections 103 (murder), 137(2) (kidnapping) and of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

A police officer stated, “The motive behind the murder is not clear yet, we are investigating the angle of sexual assault as well.”