Puttur police on Sunday found the body of a 5-year-old boy who went missing 2 days ago in KVR Puram village, Puttur mandal in Chittoor district, allegedly killed by his mother's paramour.
According to inspector G Shivabhaskhar Reddy, the boy, Shiva Kumar, was strangulated and murdered by Bala Muragaiah, his mother's former lover.
Shiva's mother Bhagyamma (35), who had developed illicit relations with Murugaiah during the time of her marriage to Muniswamy, had left him for another man. This had the affect of enveloping him in a shroud of jealousy to the extent that he vented his fury on the hapless boy.
Inspector Shivabhaskar Reddy revealed that Bhagyamma's affair with Murugaiah had caused so much distress to her husband Muniswamy that he had killed himself, unable to face the humiliation that his wife had chosen another man over him.
Murugaiah, too, underwent somewhat similar feelings when Bhagyamma chose one Murgan over him. Murugaiah tried to persuade Bhagyamma to desist from meeting Murgan and not to move in with him, but she had already made up her mind.
Her adamant stance, and her choice of leaving him instilled hatred in Murugaiah. He directed his hatred to hurt Bhagyamma by killing her young son, born out of her marriage to Muniswamy.
Murugaiah kidnapped Shiva Kumar and strangled the boy in the late hours of Friday. The body was finally found by the police early on Sunday morning.
Police have taken Muragaiah into custody and registered a case under section 302 IPC against him. The body has been shifted to hospital for autopsy.