Man 'sodomised stepson before killing him'

In a twist to the murder of an eight-year-old boy in southeastern Bengaluru, on June 4, the post-mortem report shows that he was sodomised before being beaten to death.

The jurisdictional Hebbagodi police arrested the boy’s stepfather, Zaheer Khan (42), within hours of the murder in Maragondanahalli. The boy, Sirinath, son of Thalamoyi (40), whom Khan had married after her first husband, Mahasheya, died seven years ago. Khan, a labourer, got close to Thalamoyi and eventually married her. But he would often abuse and ill-treat Sirinath who didn’t like him getting close to his mother. The woman hails from Birbhum, West Bengal, and had settled in Bengaluru two years ago. She works as a housekeeper in a private company.

The post-mortem report, released a couple of days ago, shows that the boy was sodomised before being murdered. The Hebbagodi police will once again seek the custody of the suspect, interrogate him and record his statement. They will invoke appropriate sections related to sexual assault, including those of the Pocso Act, in the FIR.