Teen murder case: Parents want Ujjwal Nikam for justice

The parents of Shubham Shirke, who was abducted and murdered in Pune allegedly by three of his friends for ransom, have demanded justice for their son and stringent punishment for the killers.

"My son was innocent and friendly with everybody. The suspects tortured him before strangulating him to death for no reason. We want justice," said Sunita Shirke, the mother of the 15-year-old.

Shubham was killed by his classmate and two other boys at Dighi on Saturday.

Sunita and Mahadev Shirke said, "This was a cold blooded murder of a minor by minors. If the law is against stringent punishment to minors, there is an urgent need to lower the age limit for juvenile crimes."

"We want Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam to conduct the trial of our son's case," Sunita told reporters at her residence in Dighi.

Shubham was kidnapped on Saturday from Dighi area and taken to a nearby hill where he was strangled to death. The accused then made a call to his father Mahadev Shirke demanding Rs 50,000, which was later brought down to Rs 15,000, police had said.

Shubham was not released even after his father Mahadev paid the money to the abductors that night following the ransom call. Thereafter, the parents approached the Vishrantwadi police and three arrests were made in the case.

The teenager was a student of Priyadarshini English Medium School in Bhosari area and had appeared for his Class 10 exam this year. Of the arrested accused, two are minors and one has given class 12 exams this year. One of them is a classmate of the deceased.

According to the police, the three accused would keenly follow the television serial CID based on real crime incidents.