A teenaged housemaid alleged physical and mental torture against a retired IAS officer and his wife on Tuesday.

Neha Kumari (name changed), 14, a resident of the New Etwarpur area on the southern fringes of the city, fled the Boring Canal Road residence of Lalan Singh on Saturday.

Singh, who retired as Munger divisional commissioner in April 2011, lives with his wife Prabha on the first floor of Alakraj Apartment.

“They (Lalan and his wife) have been torturing me for more than six months now. For small mistakes like not able to cook properly or not able to clean the house properly, they used to beat me up. They used an immersion rod, which is used to heat water, to burn me all over by body. Slaps and punches were a normal affair. They also cut my hair and splash me with boiling water. They put red chilli on my wounds also. I was not allowed to get out of the house as they locked the main door. In the last six months, I have not spoken or seen my family for once,” Neha narrated her plight to officers of Buddha Colony police station.

Neha’s mother Meena Devi said: “My husband died long ago. When Neha got a job in the officer’s house six months back, we were promised Rs 4,000 per month. However, only three or four times we got Rs 1,500. We were told that the cumulative salary would be given by Singh when Neha would be married off. We were never allowed to meet her.”

She has one son and seven daughters with Neha being fifth of the seven sisters. Neha’s brother Rajkumar, 25, who works as a daily wage worker like his mother, said: “On Saturday afternoon, Neha got a chance to escape. She somehow reached our locality, around 10km from Singh’s house. As we changed house recently, she could not locate it and spent the night at a temple. On Sunday morning, one of my sisters noticed Neha and brought her home.”

Singh’s flat was found locked since Tuesday morning. “The couple suddenly left on Tuesday morning,” the apartment’s security guard said.

However, Singh refuted the allegations. “I came late on Saturday evening to know that she had fled. She was not tortured and she might have fallen during her escape and sustained the injuries. Her mother had come on Sunday and we told her that the girl had fled,” Singh said and disconnected the phone, which remained switched off after that.

An FIR based on Neha’s complaint had been lodged at Women’s police station.

“The girl has been sent to the PMCH for tests,” an officer of Buddha Colony police station said.