Kochi: The Thrikkakara police have taken into custody Antony Tijin, a native of Puthuvype, as the probe into a suspected child torture case picks up pace.
Antony is the partner of the two-year-old girl child's maternal aunt. He was arrested from A J Palace hotel on Ashoka Road in Mysuru.
At the time of the arrest, the child’s aunt and her 10-year-old son were also with Antony. Earlier the injured child’s father had complained that his wife’s sister and her son were missing.
The police reached Mysuru by tracking their phone tower location. In between they shifted places twice following which the police took two hours to take them into custody. Earlier during the search carried out with the help of cyber police, the police had received the information that they were in Kozhikode. However, when the police reached Kozhikode, the three of them left for Mysuru via Muthanga.
The police are yet to register a case against Antony.
The minor is under treatment at a Kolenchery hospital. The child has sustained a bruise on her head, and two fractures on the left hand. There are also wounds on various parts of her body and a burn injury on her back. The doctors said that the injuries on the child's body were sustained over several days.
As reported earlier, the grandmother and mother of the child attempted suicide at the hospital on Thursady. The mother was found with her veins cut inside the hospital bathroom at 1 am and the grandmother was found with injuries outside the intensive care unit. Both are currently being treated at the intensive care unit and their injuries are not serious.
The Thrikkakkara police have not ruled out outright abuse, torture or even exorcism even as the girl's kin claimed she had inflicted the injuries all by herself. The police have already registered a case against the girl's mother, a native of Kumbalam in Kochi, over the delay in providing medical care.
The family comprising the girl, girl's mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin has been living on rent at a flat at Thengod in Kakkanad. Antony also stayed with them.
The girl's mother and her sister are estranged from their husbands.
Suspicious activities had taken place at the flat on Sunday night, when the child was admitted to the hospital. The CCTV cameras at the flat show the family leaving their flat on Sunday night.
The unconscious girl was first taken to a hospital at Pazhanganad, near Aluva, by her mother and grandmother on Sunday night. The doctor, who grew suspicious on seeing the injuries, informed the police. But as her condition was critical, she was moved to the Kolenchery hospital that night itself.
