Eight-year-old boy Prayas Kunwar of Birendra-Aishwarya Marg, Gongabu, was abducted and murdered before his body was dumped in an open drain on the banks of the Samakhusi River near Mhepi bridge, in Kathmandu.

The boy had gone missing on Tuesday evening and was murdered the same day. Police today recovered the body stuffed in a red handbag on the basis of a confessional statement about ‘abduction, murder and dumping’ of the victim by Mahendra SK (Sarki), a driver working for the boy’s father.

Senior Superintendent of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh at Metropolitan Police Crime Division said Mahendra confessed to kidnapping and killing Prayas after luring him with a chocolate. He took the victim to Nagarjun forest in a vehicle within a few hours of abducting him. “The boy was strangulated and gagged to death inside the vehicle,” he said.

Mahanedra, a permanent resident of Bhirkot Municipality of Syangja district, was hired as driver by Prayas’ father Pravin Kunwar one-and-a-half-months ago. Pravin runs Gongabu-based Swastika Triveni Guest House where he had been living with his wife and son.

Yam Bahadur Kunwar, a close aide to Pravin and his neighbour, said the driver was not satisfied with Pravin and used to complain about ‘low salary’.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Phadindra Prasai of Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharajgunj, said the parents of Prayas lodged a ‘missing person complaint’ on Tuesday at around 7:30 pm. Mahendra tried to come clean by assisting police and neighbours in search of Prayas.

“We arrested Mahendra and four other employees of the guest house for investigation. A special team from MPCD joined us a day later. The accused finally disclosed the whereabouts of the boy’s body,” DSP Prasai said.

Prayas went missing after his parents left him alone at the guest house on Tuesday evening and went to All Nepal Hospital, Samakhusi, for medical check-up of the boy’s mother, who is seven-month pregnant. When the couple returned home, they did not see Prayas and alerted the police.

Pravin, who had called the police at around 7:30pm, said the driver was also not at the guest house. Yam Bahadur said Pravin called Mahendra at around 6:45pm, but he denied seeing the boy. Mahendra showed up at the guest house at around 7:45pm.

Yam Bahadur, also an eyewitness at the crime scene where the body was found, said, “There was blood on the boy’s face. No other injury mark was visible on the body.”

Prayas was a first grader at Belmont International School, Samakhusi.

His body has been sent to the Department of Forensic Science at TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, for post-mortem.

Meanwhile, the grieving father of the boy fell unconscious and was admitted to a local hospital.

On August 6, 11-year-old Nishan Khadka of Pepsicola was kidnapped and murdered in Bhaktapur. Police had shot dead two men suspected of abducting him the same day.