Instagram Craze Turns Deadly: Minor Boys Kill Youth, Steal iPhone To Create ‘High-Quality’ Reels

In a horrific incident, two minors allegedly killed a youngster in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to steal his iPhone for creating ‘high-quality reels’ on Instagram. The tragedy was reported in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.
According to police, the victim, Shadab (19), lived in Bengaluru. He was visiting his ancestral village of Nagaur in Bahraich for his maternal uncle’s wedding. On the night of June 20, the two minor boys – aged 14 and 16 – lured Shadab to a secluded place outside the village under the pretext of making reels. They then attacked him, slit his throat with a knife, and bludgeoned him with a brick.

Shadab’s family filed a missing report on June 21. Later that day, his body was found near a dilapidated tube well in a guava orchard outside the village.
Police launched an investigation and nabbed the two minors on Saturday. The teenagers confessed to the crime and admitted that they had planned the murder four days earlier to steal Shadab’s iPhone.

Police managed to recover Shadab’s iPhone, as well as the knife and the brick used in the brutal murder.
Four individuals – including the two minors and their family members – were booked under BNS Sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (concealment of evidence). It has been learned that the minors and their family members fled their homes after the body was discovered.

One of the accused’s relatives was arrested on Friday for allegedly helping the minors hide the murder weapon. Police are on the lookout for another adult involved in the gruesome crime.