Bargarh: In a shocking incident, a four-year-old boy died after he was pushed into a well by his cousin over a suspected land dispute between the two families Wednesday morning.
The deceased was identified as Sudev (4), son of Bishnucharan Das of Dhanurakhanda village under Sadar police limits in the district. The accused was identified as Gurudev (18), son of Bishnucharan’s elder brother.
According to sources, Sudev’s mother had gone to perform puja in a local temple early in the morning when the incident occurred.
Meanwhile, Gurudev called out the boy and took him to an isolated place on the pretext of attending a nature’s call. He took Sudev with him and pushed him into a well of a fellow villager’s before fleeing.
Sudev’s mother returned from the temple only to find the boy missing and alerted neighbours who searched for the boy. After a frantic search, they spotted him floating in the well and alerted firefighters who reached the village and recovered the boy from the well.
By then, the boy had already died, sources said. Acting on a complaint by the boy’s mother, police registered a case of murder and sent the body for autopsy to Bargarh district headquarters hospital (DHH).
Later, police arrested Gurudev based on the information of some locals who had seen him taking the boy towards the well.
Later, Gurudev confessed to having pushed Sudev into the well as he wanted to settle scores with his family over the land dispute.
