The main accused in the alleged case of kidnapping and murder of a 13-year-old boy died at a hospital in the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday night, police said.

The police had arrested Rahul alias Monu Vishwakarma (30), Malay Rai (25) and Karan Jaggi (24) after boy's body was found floating in Bargi dam canal on Sunday.

Even after receiving Rs 8 lakh ransom from the boy's family, the accused killed the minor as he had recognised Vishwakarma as an acquaintance of his father.

Vishwakarma fell ill after his arrest and was admitted to a government medical college and hospital here for treatment where he died on Sunday night, Additional Superintendent of Police G P Khandel told PTI.

The body has been sent for post-mortem, he said. The boy was kidnapped from Dhanvantari Nagar area here on Thursday when he went to buy some items from a shop near his home, police said.

On Sunday, the police found his body floating in Bargi dam canal near Bichua village, located around 20 km from here, a police official said.

It is suspected that the boy was strangulated with a piece of cloth before the body was dumped into the canal, he said.

The accused claimed they committed the crime as they were jobless and without money for the past one month, the official said.

They demanded Rs 2 crore and then settled for Rs 8 lakh, which was paid to them, but the child had been murdered by then, he said.