Two men arrested for stripping, caning minor boys

City police have arrested two out of four men who stripped and tortured four minor boys aged between 5 and 10, accusing them of stealing mobile phones in Okalipuram in central Bengaluru.

The accused were booked under sections of the Pocso Act, besides IPC sections relating to assault and intimidation.

The arrested have been identified as Murali Manoj, a BE graduate who works as a project manager and Anand, an auto driver. The police are on the hunt for two other accused identified as John and Vivek, all of them residents of Srirampura.

Police said the incident happened at 4 pm on July 16. The four accused men whisked away the minors aged 5, 6, 7 and 10 to an empty plot behind RR Convention Hall in Okalipuram. Two of the victims were brothers one their cousin and another neighbour. The boys reside in Okalipuram.

John, Vivek, Murali Manoj and Anand accused the boys of stealing mobile phones, though they had not. The men stripped the minors, laid bricks on their heads and caned the boys’ hands with sticks, asking where they had kept the mobile phones.

The men warned the minors that they would be finished if they returned to the area. Learning about the incident, the mother of one of the victims filed a complaint with the Srirampura police the next day.