“Daddy hit Pappi on his eyes, arms and head and dragged him by his legs. I was the one who wiped his blood. He fell on the floor and did not wake up,” the four-year-old said.

A tale of unspeakable brutality unfolded slowly when the little one told Kerala police in the presence of Child Welfare Committee members how his mother’s live-in partner assaulted his seven-year-old brother as punishment for the younger sibling wetting the bed.

The seven-year-old is battling for his life for the past three days at the medical college hospital in Kochi, with blood circulation in his brain stopping on Saturday and doctors deciding to continue to keep him on ventilator support.

The boy, who has suffered a 6cm-long skull fracture, a ruptured lung and concussions all over his body, has undergone an emergency brain surgery.

His four-year-old brother, with the help of the Child Welfare Committee members, has managed to communicate to the police how the arrested accused, 36-year-old Arun Anand, returned home late on Thursday night after dinner with the kids’ mother and was incensed to see the kid had wetted the bed.

Anand, who has been living with the children’s mother at a rented house in Idukki since her husband died 10 months ago, banged the head of the seven-year-old against the wall, lifted him by his legs and slammed him onto the floor. Anand, a close relative of the woman’s husband, had tasked the boy with ensuring that his younger brother went to the toilet before sleeping.

Anand also turned on the four-year-old and hit him so hard that the child lost two teeth.

The police said Anand, who is suspected to be addicted to recreational drugs, has had a history of violence, including involvement in a murder case in which he has been acquitted for want of evidence.

Anand has been booked for attempt to murder and under sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act because the boys’ mother has told the police that he had sexually assaulted the elder child earlier.

The mother, who had initially claimed that her elder son had suffered the injuries after falling off his bed, is now slowly opening up to the police after the younger son described what he saw, telling them how she put up with Anand’s frequent drug-induced fits of rage because she wanted some protection, financial stability and assurance after her husband’s death.

“He (Anand) always wanted to distance me from my children on the pretext of making them strong. On Thursday, we had gone out for dinner leaving the boys at home,” she told reporters at the medical college on Saturday.

“On returning, he saw my younger son had wetted the bed. Then he woke up my elder son,” she said.

The younger boy has been sent to his grandmother’s place because he is scared to return to his mother at the moment.

The chairman of the Thodupuzha Child Welfare Committee, Joseph Augustine, told reporters that the younger boy had over a period of time described the entire incident.

The brutality, which has hurt the conscience of the state, has come to the attention of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has instructed all departments concerned to provide the best medical care to the seven-year-old.

The chef minister has also directed Idukki district officials to submit an action-taken report.

When Anand was taken to the house on Saturday for a reconstruction of the crime, a group of 50-60 people staged a protest demanding the maximum punishment for him.

Anand had been one of the three accused booked for murder in 2008 for allegedly smashing a beer bottle and killing a friend in Thiruvananthapuram. He was acquitted for want of evidence.

“The accused has a criminal background. We are collecting more details about his past,” Thodupuzha deputy superintendent of police K.P. Jose told reporters.

The police said Anand had seven other cases of violence against him.