"If the kidnappers wanted money or if they had any issues with us, they should have taken us. Why did they kill our child?" a sobbing Satish Atal from Nizamabad asks.
Satish is the uncle of 15-year-old Abhay Modani, the Hyderabad boy whose body was recently found stuffed in a cardboard box and abandoned near the Secunderabad railway station.
The police suspect that the business rivals of the boy’s father Raj Kumar, who has a scrap recycling company in Katedan of Rajendranagar, could be behind the killing.
Abhay left his house in Sree Colony of Shahinayatgunj around 5 pm on Wednesday to get idlis for his family members. He rode a two-wheeler, bought the idlis and came back close to his house. However, he never returned home.
The death of Abhay, who was allegedly kidnapped before he was killed, has left many lives shattered, none more than his identical twin Abhishek.
On Wednesday, for some particular reason, Abhishek could not accompany his brother when he was going out to buy some food - an everyday ritual in the house.
Abhishek last spoke to his brother at around 4:30 pm when Abhay called to ask whether he wanted something to eat or not.
Half an hour later, his mother also called Abhay and told him to buy a few vegetables for the house.
At around 5:30, when a worried family tried calling him again, his phone was switched off.
"We kept calling, but his phone was switched off. After waiting for sometime, we started looking for him but to no avail. Then, at around 10 pm, we got a ransom call. They asked for Rs 10 crore if we wanted Abhay back," Satish adds.
When the Secunderabad police observed a suspicious box near Alpha hotel, they initially thought that it was a bomb, but it was a child's body.
The police said that he was not beaten and did not have any injuries. The cause of his death was suffocation. His mouth was sealed with a thick tape, and hands were tied with a rope, which took his life.
What complicated the case even more, was the CCTV footage which emerged, and showed a stranger, who appeared to be familiar to the boy, following the boy from behind. The stranger also went on to ride the vehicle later, while Abhay sat behind him.
"When we were shown the pictures, no one from the family could recognize the stranger. One kid from the locality identified that it was our own neighbour's domestic help who kidnapped Abhay," Satish adds.
"He used to play cricket with Abhay and the other kids. How could he dare to kidnap his own friend who gave him so much importance. In the past six months, Sai and Abhay had become good friends. That is why Abhay was sitting so comfortably on his own scooty with Sai," says Satish.
Abhay lived as part of a joint family.
"The kids are completely shattered. They are even scared to go to the next floor now. We are scared to send our kids out.," Satish says.
The police have also detained the family's driver for investigation.
"Nothing can bring back our Abhay but we demand justice for him and his parents. I request the judiciary to strictly punish the culprits," Satish adds, as he breaks down into a fresh spell of tears.
"Official postmortem reports are yet to come but doctors told me that Abhay must have died around 9 pm. The kidnappers called us after 10 pm, which means they called us after killing him. How can they do cruel?" he says.
"They killed the most active and lovable kid of this colony. Things in the colony will never be the same again," Satish concludes.