Man kills toddler after woman rejects marriage proposal, held

Agra: A two-year-old boy was allegedly thrown on a road repeatedly and killed by a 24-year-old man after the child’s mother rejected his marriage proposal in Firozabad’s Yadav Colony on Saturday, police said. The accused was arrested later after an exchange of fire with police.The toddler, Aarav, lived with his mother, Rati Devi, 24, a teacher in Araon area. She had been staying at her parental home after separating from her husband following marital disputes.On Saturday, Rati and her mother, Pinki Devi, had gone to Shikohabad to seek legal advice on divorce proceedings. Since their appointment with an advocate was scheduled for the evening, they were staying at the house of Pinki’s friend.A Firozabad police official said the accused, Jitendra Pathak alias Viraj, who runs a grocery shop in Budaun district and is a cousin of Rati’s husband, had developed close ties with her family while helping them with the divorce proceedings. During this period, he allegedly proposed marriage to Rati, but she repeatedly turned him down.Police said Viraj followed them to Shikohabad and again pressured Rati to finalise the divorce and marry him. When Rati and her mother refused, he allegedly took Aarav outside on the pretext of buying him a toffee.Around 2.30pm, he allegedly took the child to a deserted stretch nearly 50m from the house and threw him on the ground repeatedly. CCTV footage reviewed by police allegedly showed him throwing the child on the road at least eight times. Officials said the accused later left the child outside the house and fled, while family members found Aarav near the gate about 10 minutes later.Senior police officers reached the spot and launched an investigation. The body was sent for postmortem. Investigators said the accused saw the child as an obstacle to his desire to marry Rati. An FIR was registered at Shikohabad police station under BNS section 103(1), murder.SP (City) Ravi Shanker Prasad said four teams were formed to arrest the accused soon after the case was reported. “Acting on a tip-off that the accused was attempting to evade arrest near Mainpuri Road, a police team laid a cordon in the area. When officers tried to stop and question him, he opened fire on the police. Police returned fire and the accused sustained a gunshot injury to his leg before being arrested. He was shifted to the district hospital for treatment. Investigation in the murder case is continuing,” he said.