In a case that has sent shockwaves across Odisha, a 12-year-old student of a madrasa in the state’s Nayagarh district, was allegedly subjected to months of sexual abuse by his senior peers before being strangled to death and his body dumped in a septic tank after he threatened to expose them. Police have arrested five juveniles, aged between 12 and 15, in connection with the brutal crime.
The victim, a resident of Cuttack district, had been enduring repeated sexual assault for six months within the madrasa premises. The situation turned fatal on 2 September 2025 when the boy, who had remained silent out of fear and shame, was killed after he finally gathered the courage to threaten his abusers with revealing the ordeal to his parents.
According to the police investigation, the sequence of events was particularly gruesome. On 31 August 2025, two of the accused had attempted to kill the boy by pushing him into an abandoned septic tank, believing him to be dead. However, the victim survived the fall, managed to climb out despite injuries, and returned to the madrasa. Tragically, on 2 September 2025, he was lured by two of the students under the false pretense of help. He was then sexually assaulted again, strangled, and murdered by a group of five, who subsequently disposed of his body in the same tank.
The disappearance was reported by the victim’s father on the day of the murder. While the body was recovered soon after, initial assumptions of an accidental death were overturned by forensic evidence and CCTV footage, which pointed to murder.
Nayagarh Additional Superintendent of Police, Subash Chandra Panda, stated that the prime accused is a 15-year-old student who had been coercing and manipulating the victim for months. Police stated that the victim was subjected to an unnatural sexual act and torture for the past six months and that he was fearful of reporting the abuse due to social stigma.
The five accused were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and have been remanded to a juvenile rehabilitation home in Angul. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (for murder).
MADRASA MURDER SOLVED, 5 MINORS HELD
In a shocking incident in Odisha, a minor was brutally murdered by seven of his classmates at a Madrasa to prevent him from reporting their homosexual advances. pic.twitter.com/DZ31KdxntC— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) September 8, 2025
The madrasa, which houses around 16 students, has expelled the accused and is cooperating with the police investigation. The institution has been closed since the incident came to light.
(With inputs from Indian Express)
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