A nine-year-old boy was shot dead after he refused to bring water for mixing with alcohol during a naming ceremony in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj district, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred on Friday in Yakutganj village under the Sahawar police station limits. The victim was attending a naming ceremony at his house when the incident unfolded.
According to the boy’s uncle, Anuj, relatives and villagers had gathered for the function when the accused, Dhanesh Yadav, son of Sukhveer Yadav and a relative of the victim’s father Jasveer Gola, asked the child to fetch water while he was consuming alcohol.
When the boy refused, the accused, allegedly in an inebriated state, lost his temper and shot him in the stomach, police said.
Panic broke out at the ceremony following the shooting. The injured child was first taken to the district hospital in Kasganj and later referred to Aligarh due to his critical condition. He succumbed to his injuries during treatment on Saturday, officials confirmed.
Station House Officer Govind Ballabh Sharma said police registered a case based on a complaint filed by the victim’s family.
The accused fled the spot after the incident, but police later arrested him near the Khitauli canal bridge. Officers also recovered the firearm used in the crime from his possession.
Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Bharti said authorities have initiated the process to send the accused to jail and are investigating the matter from all angles.
