5-year-old killed, eyes gouged out over land dispute in Jharkhand

A five-year-old boy's eye was gouged out, and he was murdered, allegedly over a land dispute at Kuruba village in the Dugdha police station area of the district. The body of the deceased, Aryan Dev, was found in the village on Friday.

The police arrested the boy's neighbors Manas Gope, Bhubaneshwar Gope and Charka Gope on the complaint of the deceased father, Bablu, who also has a three-year-old daughter. The postmortem report of the deceased is awaited. The accused confessed their crime to the police.

Police said Aryan, the only son of Bablu, a daily wager, was reported missing at home on Thursday afternoon. The family members launched a frantic search throughout the village, but could not find him. They later informed the police, who reached the village at night and started an investigation.

Aryan slippers were found in a well near Kamaliya dam in the village on Friday morning. The villagers, under police supervision, pumped water from the well and found Aryan's body. The family members went into shock and the village was engulfed by the monster even as the tension grew.

The police took the body into their custody and kept it in the mortuary of DVC Hospital Chandrapura for post-mortem.