LAHORE, Sept 5: Naulakha police on Monday arrested two people who murdered an eight-year-old boy after kidnapping him for Rs2 million ransom from Pathi Ground a month ago.

Police have yet to establish if the victim, Omman, a Class-II student, was kidnapped and murdered for ransom or over some family dispute.

The prime suspect, Rafaqat, a close relative of the victim, confessed to committing the offense, saying he along with his accomplice Shabbir strangled the child in Qaiser Garh locality in the limits of Kasur Saddar police station the same day they had kidnapped him.

After committing the murder the accused threw the body near a tube-well and escaped.

The body was temporarily buried by the local police after declaring it ‘unclaimed’ and a murder case was registered against unidentified people.

Police said Omman, son of Karamat Gujjar, a milk-seller, disappeared from outside his house in Pathi Ground on Aug 6 and could not be found by the family despite an extensive search.

A kidnap-for-ransom case under section 365-A of the PPC was registered on the complaint of Karamat, father of four, on Aug 7 after the family received calls from kidnappers who demanded Rs2 million for releasing the victim.

A police team working on the case managed to trace the two suspects, (Rafaqat alias Malangi of Pathi Ground and Shabbir alias Kali Masih) with the help of call data and arrested them from Mirpur, Sindh. Their third accomplice Rana Taseer, who belongs to Sargodha district, is yet to be arrested.

A Naulakha police official said the accused and the victim’s family members might be taken to Kasur for identifying the remains of the body on Tuesday (today) after getting permission from the district and sessions judges of both Lahore and Kasur.

He said raids were also conducted on the ancestral property of the third accused in Sargodha district. The police have learnt that the accused had not visited the place for the last four years.

The official said police also came to know about some family disputes between Karamat and Rafaqat.

He said the police were tying to sort it out that why the accused killed the boy even before demanding ransom.