Deoria, Dec 7 (IANS): An unemployed youth in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria killed his seven-year-old nephew allegedly to extort money from his father.

He has now been arrested.

The accused Azharuddin Ansari, 22, was working as an employee in a factory in Gujarat before returning to his native city, Deoria, six months back.

Since the accused had no money, he decided to extort money from his brother Eid Mohammad who earned a great deal of money and had also constructed a sprawling house in last three years.

Eid Mohammad runs a snacks shop near a mausoleum.

Two days ago, Nasir, the seven-year-old son of Eid Mohammad, went missing while playing outside his house. After several hours of search, the family lodged a missing report.

SP Deoria Sankalp Sharma, said: "On Tuesday morning, when the family and police were busy putting up posters for the missing boy, Eid Mohammad got a message that his son has been kidnapped by a man of his neighbourhood and if he wanted to see his son alive, he should leave Rs 30 lakh somewhere in Kasya Airport field."

The message added that his son will be dropped back after the money is delivered.

Sharma said that a team immediately got on the job and checked the CCTVs in-stalled in the nearby area. They spotted two men leaving after pasting the ransom letter.

Later, a police team carried out a search operation and nabbed three persons, including Azharuddin.

"When grilled, Azharuddin spilled the beans and on his information, the body was recovered from a pond at Rampur Buzurg village in Kushinagar. The body has been sent for post-mortem," said the SP.

The accused later revealed that he had first lured the boy with a chocolate and a ride on a bike.

Later, he planned to extort money from his father but since he could not find a place to hide the child and feared that the boy might expose his cover, he killed him.