The arrested middleman, Bharat Behera. Telegraph picture

Balangir, Feb. 6: Police today arrested one of the two labour agents involved in the case of torture on a child labour.

The 12-year-old boy had returned from the captivity of a brick kiln owner in Karnataka with a broken hand. He alleged that the brick kiln owner had beaten up with iron rods and stick and ill-treated him for his refusal to put in more hours of work.

Patnagarh police arrested Bharat Behera alias Bhutulu from the district headquarters hospital premise here this morning. Ever since a case was registered against the two labour agents and the kiln owner at Patnagarh police station, the agents had been absconding. The police said the arrested agent, Bharat Behera, was remanded in judicial custody after his bail was rejected in a Patnagarh court.

Police sources said the two labour agents — Bharat and Mohan Meher of Bagalabandh, who had sent the boy, Sushant Kumbhar, and his parents to a brick kiln in Karnataka — had gone into hiding after a case registered against them January 16.

Inspector in charge of Patnagarh police station Ramakanta Jena said the police had a tip-off about Bharat of Kendrapara district quite for sometime before coming to a place called Saat Mile (seven miles) near Balangir.

“We had information about Bharat, one of the accused, hiding in Saat Mile near Balangir. We raided the village and got to know that he had gone to district headquarters hospital in Balangir. We arrested him from near the hospital. We will shortly nab the other accused Mohan Meher,” Jena said.

The family of Santosh Kumbhar, his wife and his son Sushanta of Kadalimunda village in the Patnagarh police station limits had migrated to work at a brick kiln in Gulbarga of Karnataka last October. The two labour agents had paid Rs 2,000 as advance and promised that they would be paid another Rs 15,000 after reaching there.

But as the labour agents did not pay the promised sum to them, Sushant refused to work. At this, Lachhman Naik, the owner of the kiln, attacked Sushanta with an iron rod smashing his left hand and fracturing it.

The kiln owner also did not allow the boy medical treatment and held the family captive for more than two months. After return from the captivity, the family lodged a complaint against the two middlemen and the kiln owner at Patnagarh police station. The police registered case under sections 374, 342, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 25 of the Migration Labour Act and Section 3 of the Child Labour Act.

Sushant’s fractured hand had got infected and developed gangrene. His condition was stated as very serious by the doctors here. He was first shifted to VSS Medical College and Hospital in Burla and then to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. However, a doctor in Cuttack has said Sushant’s hand would be fully cured.