Boy found dead in Sikkim

TT, Gangtok, May 27: The decomposed body of a 13-year-old boy was found in a house in an East Sikkim village on Monday. The caretaker of the house, who police suspect had killed the child, is missing.

Rohit Chettri, a Class VI student of Brihaspati Parsai Senior Secondary School at Ranipool, was found dead at Marchak village, 18km from here.

"The body was in an advance stage of decomposition. It was difficult to find out how the child was killed. The man who was the caretaker is missing. Prima facie, we suspect that he killed the boy," said inspector in charge of Ranipool police station, Bishal Rai.

Anil alias Roshan Rai, 38, from Development Area in East Sikkim was the caretaker of the two-storied house in which Rohit stayed. "He had been working here for the past one year. The house owner stays in Siliguri and he would visit occasionally," said a police source.

Rohit's family is from Bengal's Jaigaon and his father, a carpenter, used to work for house owner Azad Bhutia. "Before leaving Sikkim, he wanted me to keep the child and educate him here. The boy was very good in studies," Bhutia said. He added that Rohit had been staying with them for five years.

Bhutia, a freelance photographer, used to stay in Sikkim with his wife. One year ago, he shifted to Siliguri and since then, Rohit had been staying in the house with Anil.

Bhutia said he came to know about the child's death on Monday. "I tried calling the caretaker and the boy but both the cell phones were switched off. When I did not get any news, I went to Gangtok and visited the boy's school. There I was told he had last attended school on May 18. I went to the house and found it locked," Bhutia said. "I had the keys with which I went it. There was a pungent smell in the house. When I opened the boy's room, I saw his legs under the bed. I informed the police."

The police have registered a case of unnatural death. "We are waiting for the post-mortem report. It seems the boy was strangled. But we can confirm it only when we get the report tomorrow," Rai said.

The boy's body was handed over to his parents on Tuesday.