Jammu, May 25 (PTI) A 14-year-old boy who went missing a week ago was found dead at a secluded place not far from his house here, triggering protests by his relatives on Monday, officials said.

Rithik, a class 9 student, went missing from his house at Chatta locality on the outskirts of the city on May 19 and remained untraced despite a search by the police, they said.

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The officials said the decomposed body was found at a secluded place near his house Sunday night and it was taken to the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital for postmortem.

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The body was handed over to the family for last rites on Monday, they said.

The family and their relatives carried it to the Satwari chowk on the Jammu-Airport Road, staging a protest for a thorough inquiry into the incident and bringing the culprits to book, they said.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after a senior police officer met them and assured that every effort would be made to identify and nab the accused.

"We have already registered a kidnapping case in connection with the mysterious disappearance of the boy last week. The case has been converted into a murder case and further investigation is on," a police official said.

He said the police were awaiting the postmortem report which would reveal the cause of the minor's death.

The protesters alleged that the face of the boy was apparently disfigured by the culprits using some acid.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)