Villagers point to the spot where the boy was burnt

The incident occurred on Thursday evening in Sungapur village of Alipur area in north Delhi, when Sanjeev’s bicycle was hit by a Qualis car carrying the wedding party, according to villagers. The men were returning to Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, after attending a marriage. The boy too had attended that wedding.

When Sanjeev demanded that they pay for his damaged bicycle, the enraged men in the car first thrashed him and then dragged him 150-200 meters into a field.

The men, who were reportedly drunk, tied his legs and hands and then dumped the boy on a heap of cow-dung patties and set them all ablaze. The villagers spotted the flames and rushed to douse the fire.

They found the boy charred from his head to his ankles. Meanwhile, senior police officials said the boy was first strangled to death and it seems that in a bid to destroy evidence, the assailants torched him.

“Dragging the boy over 150 metres from the road to the field strongly suggests that an insider or people sharing enmity with him might be behind the act,” said a senior investigating official.