BENGALURU: In a twist of events at once horrific and distressing, a daily wage worker who could not afford treatment for his epileptic five-year-old son allegedly got his friend to kill the child.Police on Thursday said they had arrested M Jayappa and his friend M Mahesh, a repeat offender.Jayappa told police that he had to spend Rs 1,000 a day for the treatment of his son Basavaraju. He said he received no help, through government schemes or from anyone else, with the expenses.“I spent more than Rs 4 lakh in three years but it was of no use,” police quoted Jayappa as saying. “The boy did not show any sign of improvement. I was tired and did not have any more money.”Investigations revealed that Jayappa, a Davanagere native who lived in the city with his wife and four sons, promised to give Mahesh Rs 50,000 to kill the child.Jayappa and Mahesh, who lived near Bashyam Circle, Rajajinagar V Block, had become friends after meeting at a liquor shop. Hearing about Jayappa’s travails, Mahesh said he could procure an injection costing Rs 25,000 to give the child a painless death.“Jayappa asked Mahesh to arrange for the injection and promised to pay him for it,” said S Girish, deputy commissioner of police, Central Crime Branch (CCB). “He agreed to pay Mahesh an additional Rs 25,000 for other expenses.”In the first week of June, Mahesh told Jayappa that he could not get the injection. He told Jayappa that he would kill the child anyway if he was paid Rs 50,000, police said.Jayappa, who said he could not remember the exact date of the murder , told investigators that on a day the pair had agreed upon, he sent his wife and three sons to a relative’s house in Basaveshwaranagar and stayed home with Basavaraju, their third child. Mahesh came to the house that night and strangled the boy to death.The next morning, Jayappa told neighbours that Basavaraju had died due complications from his condition. Most neighbours, who had seen Basavaraju have epileptic seizures, believed the story. Others grew suspicious as they had seen Mahesh visit Jayappa’s house when only he and Basavaraju were home but they kept their suspicions to themselves, police said.Jayappa buried the child in the Goraguntepalya burial ground.