The police have arrested the shopkeeper Krishna. (Representational Image)
Hyderabad:
A 10-year-old boy in Hyderabad was stripped and tortured with chilli powder sprinkled on his private parts, allegedly as punishment for stealing a soft drink from a neighboring shop.
Shop owner Krishna has been arrested and challaned.
The child’s mother went to the police in Hyderabad on Monday evening and complained that a local shopkeeper took her son to the terrace of his house, stripped him naked and beat him by sprinkling chilli powder on his body.
In a harrowing video, the boy cries and begs as he stands naked tied with nylon thread on a neighbour’s terrace, moaning in pain. The boy appears to have pain in his eyes and is seen rubbing the parts of his body that are burning with the chilli powder.
A man is heard threatening the child for allegedly stealing, even as the boy pleads and apparently admits to some of the allegations leveled at him.
The boy’s uncle said he was beaten with a pipe and threatened.
“Why didn’t he inform us or show us the CCTV footage that the boy was stealing from his shop? How could he take him to his house and beat him up like this,” said the uncle angrily.
The boy’s mother said that he was falsely accused, that he may have “touched or shaken” the soft drink bottle.
Police officer Saida Babu told NDTV that the shopkeeper wanted to scare the child into stealing. The man said that the child was often taken from his shop.
The 30-year-old shopkeeper faces charges including ‘voluntarily causing hurt’, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation.