On charge of covering up torture

A day after a three-year-old boy succumbed to alleged parental torture on Friday, the police arrested his father on the charge of covering up the torture.

The Eloor police arrested Shahajad Khan, 35, from Raniganj in West Bengal on Saturday morning, invoking Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) of the Indian Penal Code. He had been under surveillance ever since the child’s mother, Hena, 28, from Jharkhand, was arrested on Thursday.

The body of the boy was laid to rest at the Juma Masjid, Kakkanad, around 12.30 p.m. The parents were shown the body before the funeral. The police said the blood sample collected for DNA test would be submitted to court.

When the boy was admitted to a private hospital at Aluva on Wednesday with head injuries and severe internal bleeding, the boy’s father had claimed that he had a fall from a staircase and became unconscious immediately. On extensive examination, the hospital found the injuries sustained by the child inconsistent with his account and informed the police and Childline.

The police slapped the mother with murder charges after the child died.

Antecedents verified

Meanwhile, the police teams sent to Jharkhand and West Bengal to verify the antecedents of the couple are learned to have contacted their respective families.