Balasore, April 20: Mayurbhanj police have arrested a 31-year-old woman and her paramour for inflicting physical torture on her five-year-old child.

The police took the accused duo, identified as Kamala Behera and Naniranjan Behera, 33, into custody from Ankaleswar in Gujarat. Yesterday, they were produced before court and further remanded to judicial custody.

The police said Kuliana resident Kamala, a mother of three, had developed a relationship with Naniranjan, her neighbour, and eloped with him to Gujarat, where he was working in a talcum powder unit last year. She had taken the boy with her.

During their stay in Gujarat, they had allegedly tortured the child. The boy had suffered injuries all over his body, including in his private parts.

In the second week of March, Naniranjan left the child in his maternal uncle's house at Biswanathpur in Bengal, stating that they could not look after him. Later, the boy was handed over to his paternal grandmother, Srimati Behera, at Titiri village.

Srimati lodged an FIR with Kuliana police.

Sub-divisional police officer (Baripada Sadar) Suresh Jena said: "Mark of bruises and cut injuries were found in his body. The duo considered the victim as a burden, and to get rid of him, they used to torture him."

"After subjecting him to inhuman torture and fearing that he could die, they left him with his grandmother. The accused have been booked under several sections of law, including causing grievous hurts by dangerous weapons and means and attempt to murder, of the IPC," he said.

Gang busted

Police today busted a gang involved in a series of petrol pump loots, including those in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

An official said that so far the gang had looted over 1.20 lakh rupees from three petrol pumps since January.

The accused were identified as Girish Rao, 22, Pritam Bose, 27, and Tukuna Nayak, 25. One mauser, two single-shot pistols, 10 rounds of live ammunition, eight mobile phones and two motorcycles have been recovered from their possession.

Police commissioner R.P. Sharma said Choudwar police had nabbed three other members of the gang on April 6.

The three members were arrested following investigation into a loot of Rs 85,000 from the employees of Saraswat filing station on February 22.

On March 19, the gang had looted nearly Rs 10,000 from the employees of Nigam petrol pump at Barang and Rs 12,000 from another petrol pump at Jajpur on January 28.

"The gang used to snatch the cash bag from the petrol pump employees either by attacking or terrorising them," said Sharma.

Sharma said the gang had been staying together at a rented house at Naraj for the past couple of months.

The police have decided to review security measures at filing stations in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

"We will soon ask the petrol pump owners to install CCTVs as already a few have installed surveillance systems and we will push others to follow suit," Sharma said.

The gang members had utilised bulk of the money in purchasing arms and ammunitions while they had also planned to set up a small eatery near Sunshine field in the Purighat police limits.

Earlier, Choudwar police had arrested Chabindra Lenka, 32, Prashant Bhoi, 29, and Krushna Nath, 22, all from the same group.

Chabindra, an associate of gangster Tapu alias Prashant Das, was also booked for his alleged involvement in the double murder at Baranga in 2013. One mauser, four live bullets were earlier seized from the group.

Additional reporting by Vikash Sharma in Cuttack