5-Year-Old Boy Beheaded in Front of Mother, Accused Lynched

Bhopal: A five-year-old boy was beheaded by a man, suspected to be mentally unstable, in front of his mother in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, police said on Saturday. The accused, Mahesh, was beaten up by locals and died on the way to a hospital.

According to the Kuskhi police, the accused, Mahesh, came to the Ali village on a bike late on Friday night and barged into the victim’s house. He then picked a sharp weapon and started hitting the boy’s neck and shoulder repeatedly severing his head from his torso.

The boy’s mother struggled to rescue her son from the alleged killer and was injured in the process. She then started shouting for help which drew villagers to the spot. Mahesh was later overpowered by the villagers, beaten up and handed over to the police. Dhar district superintendent of police Mayank Awasthi said Mahesh died on the way to a hospital.

According to the police, the accused was not known to the family members of the slain boy. Preliminary investigation suggested that Mahesh who hailed from the village of Jobad Bagdi in Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh was mentally unstable, the police officer said. His family members said he had been missing for about four days.

A probe was on into the incident to ascertain the reason, if any, for the slain accused to kill the boy in such a barbaric manner, police said.