In Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, seven-year-old Ayush Sonkar went missing from outside his rented home on October 24, 2025. CCTV footage captured a co-tenant, Shivam Saxena, leading the boy away by promising chocolates and toys. According to police and family accounts, Shivam took Ayush via auto-rickshaw to the Pandu River, choked him to death, and submerged his body. Investigators recovered the child's body later that evening after observing CCTV footage that showed Shivam returning alone. Police reported that Shivam was involved in an affair with Ayush's mother, Mamta, and had asked her to move to Chandigarh with him. When she refused, citing her children, Shivam allegedly targeted the youngest child to eliminate what he perceived as an obstacle. Late at night, police intercepted Shivam at Barra Mod while he attempted to flee to the railway station; after Shivam allegedly fired on officers, police wounded him in the leg during retaliatory fire and took him into custody.
Country: India
State/Province: Uttar Pradesh, India
City/Region: Kanpur
Incident Type: Murder
Relationship Status: Extramarital relationship
Relationship Duration: Approximately 8 months
Incident Date: Oct. 24, 2025
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
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Relationship Outcomes:
How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 8 months
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2025-10-24
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Crime Tak - India · Original language: Hindi
घर से गायब हुए 7 साल बच्चे की लाश शाम को नदी में मिली,Mystery,UP Police ने भगा-भगाकर किया Encounter
Extramarital Conflict
The incident reflects a pattern where an illicit romantic obsession leads to violence against a vulnerable family member. Upon experiencing rejection when attempting to persuade his romantic partner to abandon her marriage, the suspect identified her youngest child as the central barrier to his desired outcome. Rather than accepting the boundary, he leveraged existing trust and familiarity to lure, kidnap, and murder the child as a calculated removal of a perceived obstacle.
Police established the sequence through local CCTV scanning, identifying Shivam leaving with Ayush and returning alone. Following the recovery of the child's body from the Pandu River, police conducted night checks along escape routes near Barra Mod. When Shivam allegedly discharged two rounds from a country-made pistol at the police team, officers engaged in retaliatory firing, wounding him in the leg before apprehending him and recovering the firearm and cartridges.
Initial confusion surrounded the boy's sudden disappearance until family members reported seeing him in the company of Shivam, which was subsequently verified by CCTV footage showing Shivam returning to the residence alone.
On October 24, 2025, around 1:00 PM, Shivam Saxena persuaded 7-year-old Ayush Sonkar to accompany him by promising treats while the boy's father was having lunch upstairs. Shivam guided Ayush on foot and then took an auto-rickshaw to the Pandu River, where he choked the child and cast his body into the water. After returning alone and fleeing when family members began searching, Shivam attempted to reach the local railway station to escape to Chandigarh. Police intercepted him, engaged in a brief armed confrontation, injured his leg, and took him into custody.
The presence of an unacknowledged extramarital attachment within a shared living space presented extreme escalation risks. The suspect exhibited high fixation, entitlement, and willingness to inflict extreme harm on a defenseless minor to overcome relationship rejection, followed by violent resistance against law enforcement.
Familiar co-tenants or household associates with undisclosed fixations can weaponize existing trust against minor children. Prompt review of surveillance footage and coordinated police response proved critical in establishing the suspect's timeline and effecting a rapid arrest.
The primary early signal was the child's statement to his sister that he was leaving with co-tenant Shivam to purchase chocolates and toys.
CCTV camera footage showing Shivam departing with the child and subsequently returning to the building alone provided the vital link for investigators.
Key evidence included CCTV video clips, recovery of the victim's body from the Pandu River, forensic scene analysis, a country-made pistol with spent and live cartridges recovered from the suspect, and the suspect's self-admitted confession.
The victim's maternal aunt stated that Ayush's father was speaking with Shivam prior to lunch, and that the child told his elder sister he was going with Shivam to buy toys before disappearing.
Initial missing-person reports quickly transitioned into a homicide investigation following CCTV review and body recovery, culminating in an armed police confrontation and formal arrest.
The precise medical cause of death remains subject to pending post-mortem report analysis, though strangulation was admitted by the suspect.