Mother's Paramour Murdered 12-Year-Old Boy For Exposing Illicit Relationship, Body Found Floating In Pond

The lifeless body of a 14-year-old boy who was reportedly missing for five days was found floating in a temple pond in a village near Sholavaram in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India on Tuesday, Sept.14, authorities said.

The deceased child was identified as K Dhanasekar, from Neduvarambakkam village near Sholavaram, police said.

According to the police, "Dhanasekar was last seen with Gopalakrishnan, who was his mother’s boyfriend. Gopalakrishnan had sent for Dhanasekar who was staying with his grandparents and had taken him to a temple pond in Natham village, a few kilometers away from his house".

Dhanasekar was the eldest son of Kamaraj and Durga, who were both daily wage laborers. As they frequently traveled from place to place looking for a job, the children were left under the care of their grandparents, the police said.

The boy’s grandfather P Govindasamy filed a complaint alleging that Gopalakrishnan had taken the Dhanasekar on Sept. 9, under the pretext of teaching him swimming.

However, the boy did not return home that night and attempts to contact Gopalakrishnan also went in vain.

Suspecting that Dhanasekar was abducted, Govindasamy lodged a complaint at the Sholavaram police station last Thursday.

"During inquiries, we found that Dhanasekar had found out about the illicit affair between Gopalakrishnan and his mother, Durga. Recently the boy had informed his father and there were frequent fights between the couple," the New Indian Express quoted a police officer as saying.

On Tuesday night, the boy’s lifeless body surfaced at the temple pond. Local residents alerted the police and the child’s body was recovered from the pond and sent to the Thiruvallur government hospital for an autopsy.

The exact cause of death will be revealed once the autopsy results are out, police said.

The Sholavaram police have registered a case against Gopalakrishnan.

Investigators believe that the accused must have suffocated the boy underwater in the pretext of teaching him swimming.

According to the police, Gopalakrishnan is found to be absconding and a manhunt has been initiated to apprehend him.