• Source:JND
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A 17-year-old boy allegedly killed his best friend with a sickle, after suspecting him of having an illicit affair with his mother in Maharashtra’s Latur district, police said on Monday. The victim, Ranjit T Mali (22) was found dead in a field shack in Vadji village on Saturday. Police launched an investigation after spotting the dead body and registered a murder case.  

After speaking with the victim’s friends and family, police teams investigating the case discovered that he was purportedly having an affair with a local woman who happened to be the mother of his close friend.

"We quickly managed to track the 32-year-old woman, who was the victim's neighbour and started probing her in detail on her purported relationship with the deceased," Bhada Police Station head Balasaheb Dongare said as quoted by IANS.

The investigation team also found out that the woman’s son, who was 17 years old and in Class 11th  had given a friend in Vadji village an old sickle to sharpen it for him for farming purposes.

“We summoned the boy for questioning on the sickle matter, but he gave evasive and misleading replies. Later, we subjected him to a grilling when he broke down and finally confessed to the crime," Dongare said.

The boy told them that he thought his mother and his close friend Mali were having an affair, and he felt humiliated, angry and hateful towards Mali. The boy and Mali, who had studied till Class 10th were neighbours and had fields next to each other, and Mali used to sleep in the hut to guard the crop.

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The boy was suspicious of Mali’s easy entry to his mother’s house, as they were good friends. The doubts were further fuelled by the fact that the woman is estranged from her husband for several years and lives alone with her son (the accused), while a couple of years ago, Mali, - reputed to be a local 'Romeo', was embroiled in a torrid affair with the boy's cousin-sister, who got married last year, reported IANS.

The boy also confessed to the police that he secretly ‘spied’ Mali and his mother for several days, observing their actions and interactions.

The teenager was sure that his friend and his mother were having an affair and he swore to kill his friend. He devised a plot to murder his friend on Saturday morning and then returned home, acting as if nothing had happened.

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Dongare said that the investigations showed that  "there was nothing serious going on between the boy's mother and his best friend", and the murder was caused by some false assumptions and gossip.

"We have checked the mobile call records of the woman and the victim, interrogated her thoroughly, and though they used to chat often, there was nothing untoward between them as suspected by the boy," Dongare said.

After the police investigation, the boy will be brought before the Juvenile Justice Board, which will decide the further actions.