Kota (Raj), Oct 30 (PTI) A key accused and two of his associates were arrested and a minor boy detained in connection with the killing of a 38-year-old man who was found dead in a forest in Baran district last week, police said on Friday.

The accused, identified as Doulatram Lodha (38), Ramswroop Lodha (25), and his two aides - Vishal and Naresh - were arrested and a minor boy was detained on Thursday evening while one of the accused, identified as Chain Singh, is still absconding, they said.

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The deceased, an employment assistant, was found dead in a drain with his face disfigured in a forest on Saturday last week, police said.

During investigation, the key accused, Lodha, turned out to be the former boyfriend of a minor girl the deceased was in love with. The accused made a fake ID on social media of the girl and conspired to kill him, Station House Officer (SHO) at Harnawada Shahji police station, Ravinder Singh, said.

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Investigation revealed that Lodha was in love with the minor girl and had eloped with her in 2016, following which he was arrested and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for rape and abduction, he said.

Lodha was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in the case and was in jail but on his first appeal, he was released on bail in 2018, the SHO said.

On his return from the jail, he found that the girl he had eloped with was in a relationship with the deceased employment assistant and conspired to kill him, he added.

Lodha asked the deceased through the fake ID to meet him at a spot near Chalarkhon village, the SHO said.

When he reached there, Lodha, along with his aides, grabbed him and slit his neck and later disfigured his face to hide his identify and threw his body in a drain, he added. PTI CORR

(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)