Police said the accused, Wala Bhaskar Reddy, allegedly planned to extort Rs 1 crore from the boy’s realtor father.
BENGALURU: A UK-returned MTech graduate, who had recently joined an infrastructure company, has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and killing the 13-year-old son of his former neighbour in Bengaluru Urban district on Wednesday night. Police said the accused, Wala Bhaskar Reddy, allegedly planned to extort Rs 1 crore from the boy’s realtor father to repay his family’s debts amounting to Rs 3 crore.
Based on preliminary investigations, police officers said the Reddys and the family of M Prajwal, a Class VIII student, were neighbours in Yelahanka before the latter moved to another lane in the locality. Bhaskar and Edukondalu drove Prajwal to an isolated spot, made a video of him in their custody and struck the boy on the head with a wooden log, leaving him unconscious, according to police. Police said the accused had planned to send Prajwal’s video, recorded before the killing, to his family and demand ransom. Following the boy’s death, he left the scene and Bhaskar decided to take Prajwal’s body to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, and dispose it there,” police said.
His accomplice in the murder, identified as Edukondalu, is on the run. He also promised to teach the boy how to drive. The duo stood on a compound wall and rained hollow bricks on the boy, bludgeoning him to death. “Edukondalu is a private school bus cleaner and agreed after money was offered. He wrapped the body in an abandoned and torn mattress found at the site and then placed it in the SUV’s boot.
On Wednesday, Bhaskar allegedly picked up Prajwal near his house in his compact SUV, telling him they would buy firecrackers.