The body of Ramiz Sheikh, 14, who went missing from a village in Murshidabad district’s Farakka on Saturday night, was recovered on Sunday morning, a day after eyewitnesses at the local market saw the boy involved in a scuffle with an older neighbour over a “prize-winning” lottery ticket.

Jidri villager Noor Islam said that his son Ramiz, a Class VIII student, had purchased a lottery ticket on Friday, and their neighbour Surkan Ali reportedly snatched the ticket from him in public view at the market on Saturday following the announcement that the ticket had won Rs 1 lakh.

The boy’s body was recovered from a litchi field on Sunday morning with slit injuries on the throat.

“My son bought a lottery ticket on Friday which was announced on Saturday to be the winner for Rs 1 lakh. Our neighbour Surkan Ali abducted and murdered my son in a planned way to get the ticket,” alleged the boy’s father.

The body was sent to Jangipur subdivisional hospital for a post-mortem. Family sources said they would file an official police complaint at Farakka later on Sunday after the boy's last rites and burial.

The altercation with Surkan, 35, reportedly at Jidri market took place after Ramiz made a gleeful overture to Surkan shortly after finding out he had won the lottery. “Surkan appeared pleased with the boy initially, but the interaction soon turned sour,” said a shopkeeper, who could not confirm how the duo left the scene. Surkan remains absconding as of Sunday.

“A miscellaneous case in connection with the body has been started as no formal complaint has been received yet. A probe has started. Prima facie it seems like a motivated murder but no arrests have been made and a search for the killer is on,” said Farakka subdivisional police officer Asim Khan.