Overview
- Authorities say the child, Arshid, who died after being taken to hospital, was found in the autopsy to have suffered extensive trauma consistent with prolonged abuse.
- Police arrested the mother, Akhila, and her partner, Ashkar, and both were remanded to judicial custody as the case was reclassified from unnatural death to murder.
- Forensic doctors reported about 51 injuries including fresh wounds, healed scars, internal bleeding, burns and fractures, findings that investigators say show repeated violence rather than an accident.
- Investigators found signs suggesting attempts to destroy evidence at the rented house, and enraged local residents attacked the accused during a police evidence-collection visit.
- The probe has widened into the couple’s past, including allegations of prior abuse of Ashkar’s first wife and other suspicious incidents, and the state minister has ordered a comprehensive inquiry while officials weigh support for earlier victims.