Four years after a 4-year-old boy Yug Gupta was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, a court would pronounce judgment in the case on 24 July.

The district and sessions judge Virender Singh on Tuesday deferred the verdict in the Yug murder case till 24 July.

The court has earlier fixed 17 July to pronounce judgment in the sensational murder case which had created ripples across the state, resulting in protests and demonstrations.

Yug was allegedly kidnapped from outside his house in busy Ram Bazar area of Shimla on 14 June 2014. He was allegedly killed seven days after the abduction even before the first ransom call was made to his parents.

The case was handed over to Crime Investigation Department (CID) after the local police failed to solve the case and on 22 August 2016, the cops announced breakthrough with the arrest of Chander Sharma, Tejender Singh and Vikrant.

As per the prosecution, Chander, neighbour of the victim, had lured the child with chocolates and took him to Tejender’s godown where he was tortured for seven days.

The child was allegedly kept naked, forced to drink liquor and later dumped alive in a water storage tank with a stone tied to his body on 21 June, seven days after he was kidnapped.

The accused allegedly sent a letter demanding ransom from the child’s father on 27 June, six days after they had killed the boy.

The accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 3.6 crore from the victim’s family and they had subsequently sent three more letters for ransom.

Police investigations had revealed that Chander had even took part in protests and search for child to avoid suspicion. He even actively cooperated with the police to find the missing boy.

The police recovered the minor boy’s skeletal remains from Shimla Municipal Corporation’s water storage tank in Kelston area on 22 August 2016.

The skeleton of the child was recovered on 29 January 2016 by the MC employees but they threw it, presuming it to be of an animal and didn’t informed the police.

The three accused — Chander Sharma, Tejender Singh and Vikrant — were booked under sections 302, 201, 342, 364 A and 120 B of IPC and they are presently lodged in jail.

The sensational kidnapping and murder case had shook the residents who staged protests to seek justice for the minor boy.