Dhenkanal: Police have launched a manhunt to trace a paedophile, who is suspected to have murdered a minor boy in the district on Tuesday.
According to sources, the 4-year-old boy was playing with other children on the main road of Sogar village under Tumusinga police limits in the afternoon when he went missing. As the child did not return home, his parents and the villagers went in search of him.
As the minor boy was not found at any place in the village, his family members started looking in the outskirts. Finally, his body was found in a rainwater drain in a cashew forest. There were several injury marks on his body.
On being informed, a police team led by Kamakshyanagar SDPO Ranjan Kumar De went to the village and seized the body. They sent it for post-mortem and registered an unnatural death case.
The child’s father told the media that he was confident of involvement of Rajendra, a padeophile of the village, in the murder of his son. There have been several instances of Rajendra having sexually abused children of the village, he alleged.
Though no injury marks were found in private parts of the child, police were looking into this angle in their investigation and launched a manhunt to trace Rajendra, who has been absconding.
