The man arrested in Delhi on Tuesday for allegedly killing a seven-year-old boy had often faked his identity in front of the boy’s family, but was actually preparing for the civil services examination, the Hindustan Times reported. He had told the family that he would soon join the Central Bureau of Investigation, and promised to help find the missing boy.

The man, 27-year-old Avadesh Sakya, had killed the child on January 6 and kept his body in a suitcase at his home since then. Police found the body on Tuesday.

The police are investigating his relationship with the women in the boy’s family to see if that had anything to do with the murder.

“He would sometimes say he works for the Intelligence Bureau,” the boy’s father Karan Saini was quoted as saying. “At other times, he said he was with the income tax department. In January, he said he had become a CBI officer and would be taking up the job on February 12. He said he had been given a bungalow, a car and a gun. He spoke fluent English and was educated and confident. We believed him.”

Sakya had gone with the boy’s father to the police station on January 6 to file the missing persons’ complaint. He had told the family he would get the crime branch and the special cell to trace him, the father said.

A few days ago, Saini visited Sakya’s home and complained of the foul smell, which Sakya said was because of a dead rat. He then sprayed perfume and the odour was gone, Saini said. “I did not know that the man we fed and loved was the killer of our boy,” he said.

Sakya had confessed to the crime during interrogation and said he planned to ask the boy’s father for ransom after dumping the body, Deputy Commissioner of Police Aslam Khan told The Indian Express.

Sakya was a tenant at the boy’s house for several years, but had moved to another house a few months ago, police said. He had friendly relations with the boy’s family, and continued to visit them, but the family began to object to him meeting the boy.

Sakya kept visiting the family even after the murder and also went to the police station to file the complaint. He had been unable to take the body out of his house for over a month because of the intensified police patrolling in the locality. When neighbours asked him about the foul smell coming from his house, he told them they were dead rats, NDTV reported.