Latur: Man held from Parbhani on suspicion of killing 7-year-old son over property dispute

A property dispute has cost a child his life in the Sul Galli area of Latur city. According to police, a 7-year-old boy was strangled to death. Police have arrested the suspect, the boy's father Yusuf Mubarak Syed (58), from Parbhani. The incident has caused widespread anger in Latur city and surrounding areas.

According to police, Syed has two wives. He has two children from his first wife. The boy was the only son of his second wife. Syed had already given both children of his first wife a share in his property. For this reason, the second wife kept saying, "My son too must get an equal share in the property." The couple often quarrelled over this.

On the night of Thursday, November 5, Syed left home with the boy and did not return all night. When her son and husband suddenly vanished, the second wife panicked. She went to the police station immediately and filed a complaint that both were missing.

As soon as the investigation began, police went through CCTV footage from the area. The footage clearly showed Syed holding the child's hand and walking towards the field behind the house at about 9.30 pm on November 5. About an hour later, the same camera caught him returning towards the house alone. On the basis of this footage and technical investigation, police took him into custody from Parbhani. When police pressed him, he confessed to the crime.

Subsequently, at about 1.30 pm on Sunday, November 8, the decomposed body of the child was pulled out of the water in a drain in the field behind the house.

Samirsingh Salve, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Latur city, said, "The body of the missing child has been found in a drain in the field, and it had decomposed. It is estimated that he was killed on November 5 itself. It has emerged that the murder was committed because of the property dispute, and the accused father has been arrested."

According to legal experts, although Muslim personal law permits a man to have more than one wife, legitimate children born to any wife, first or second, cannot be denied their right as heirs to the father's property. Like the children of the first wife, the son of the second wife also gets an equal right in the property. Despite this, the incident has left people grieving and angry everywhere.