kolkata

Updated: Dec 19, 2017 23:47 IST

A shopkeeper allegedly tortured two minor boys with electric shocks in the West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Monday over suspicion that they stole Rs 100.

Salib Oraon, a pan shop owner at Odlabari Tea Estate near Malbazar, found Rs 100 missing from his shop and his suspicion fell on eight-year-old Kapil Oraon and Avinash Oraon, 12. The tea estate is about 600km north of Kolkata.

Their fathers alleged that Salib called their sons to the shop on Monday morning. “He first slapped them and later administered electric shocks to them,” Kapil’s father Pradhan Oraon said.

Locals also alleged that the minors were tied up and beaten up before they were given shocks.

Kapil Oraon studies in Class and Avinash in Class 5 of the tea estate school, were admitted to Malbazar Hospital. The accused is on the run.

“The parents of the children have lodged an FIR against Salib and we are investigating the matter,” officer-in-charge of Malbazar Police Station Sanatan Singh said.

Salib’s mother, however, claimed that her son only slapped the boys a few times.

The boys were released from the hospital on Monday evening and their parents claimed both of them were in a state of shock.

Kapil’s father is the helper of a truck and his mother is a tea garden worker. Avinash’s father works in the tea garden and his mother is a homemaker.