tnnGorakhpur: A computer teacher arrested for the abduction and murder of a 10-year-old jeweller’s grandson allegedly confessed that he plotted the crime to repay debts worth ₹36 lakh and later demanded a ₹1 crore ransom from the family,police said on Tuesday.Victim Vaibhav Verma, a class IV student and grandson of local jeweller Laxmi Narayan Verma, went missing on Monday afternoon after returning from school. CCTV footage showed him walking with neighbour Sarvesh alias Bittu Bhatt, leading police to detain the suspect.During interrogation, Sarvesh, 36, allegedly admitted that mounting financial liabilities, including a ₹25 lakh NBFC loan and ₹11 lakh borrowed from a friend, pushed him to plan the kidnapping. Police said he researched extortion methods used by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s network through AI tools and purchased a Cambodia-based mobile number online to create aWhatsApp account for ransom calls.According to investigators, Sarvesh lured the child with the promise of a gift, took him to a nearby field and strangled him when he began shouting. He then packed the body in a sack and hid it in the basement of his house before calling the family to demand ransom.SP, south, Dinesh Puri said police recovered the suspect’s mobile phone containing AI-generated queries related to ransom collection and criminal gang operations. A Cambodia SIM card and details of a mule bank account were also found. The child’s body was recovered on Tuesday. Postmortem examination confirmed death by strangulation.Meanwhile, authorities served a notice on the accused’s family over alleged building plan violations at a property inRudrapur.
