Mahabubabad court awards ‘death penalty’ to youth for murder of 9-year-old boy

According to police authorities, Sagar enticed young Deekshit, also known as Sunny, away from his home in Krishna Colony asking the boy to accompany him to purchase some oil cans.

Mahabubabad: In the sensational case of kidnapping and murder of a boy, the Mahabubabad District Court handed down the death penalty to Manda Sagar, a mechanic hailing from Shanigapuram village, on Friday. Sagar was found guilty of the heinous crime of kidnapping and murdering nine-year-old Kusuma Deekshit Reddy, son of a journalist Kusuma Ranjith Reddy from the same village. The tragic incident happened on October 18, 2022.

According to police authorities, Sagar enticed young Deekshit, also known as Sunny, away from his home in Krishna Colony asking the boy to accompany him to purchase some oil cans. Subsequently, Sagar took the child to a hilltop of the Danamaiah Gutta located near Mahabubabad town. There, he strangled the innocent boy with a T-shirt to death. Then, Sagar doused the body with petrol and set it ablaze.

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What made this crime even more chilling was that Sagar had familiarity with the Ranjith Reddy household and was aware of their perceived wealth, which he intended to exploit for ransom. Following the complaint by Ranjith Reddy, the police arrested Sagar on October 22, 2022.

Explaining the motive behind this shocking act, SP G Chandramohan said that Sagar had initially planned to kidnap Deekshit and demand a ransom of Rs 45 lakh from his family. However, he took the child’s life when he realized the risk of being identified.

Furthermore, investigators discovered that Sagar had employed various communication apps, including one Dingtone, to make ransom calls to Deekshit’s family. The investigating team had collected solid technical evidence and ensured the conviction, the SP said, and congratulated the team including CIs Ravi Kumar, Satish, SIs Arun Kumar and Venkatachary.