Monster mom, lover held for burning private parts of 5-yr-old son

A 27-year-old mother and her lover were arrested in Mumbai for allegedly torturing and attempting to kill her 5-year-old son. The child has suffered brain damage from the abuse. The motive behind the assault is being investigated.

MUMBAI: A 27-year-old mother and her lover were arrested for allegedly burning private parts of the woman’s five-year-old son with hot water, pushing him against a wall and using extreme methods of torture. The Dahisar police have booked the two for attempting to kill the child and are probing the motive behind the abuse.

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According to the doctor, the torture has resulted in brain damage to the child. The police made the arrest based on a complaint lodged by the boy’s biological father, Vinod Ghadve, a resident of Ratnagiri.

Ghadve, 32, told the police that he had got married to Neelam, 27, in 2017. They have a five-year-old son. He said he and his wife fought and she would allegedly take out her anger on the child. This was also the reason why the couple got separated and subsequently, Neelam moved to Mumbai where she started working as a domestic help and lived with her relatives.

Ghadve said, on June 10, 2023, Neelam took away her son who was living with her husband and his mother in Ratnagiri and brought him to Mumbai. She and her boyfriend, Akshay Gawad, who is a food app delivery partner, lived together with Neelam’s son. The woman in the meanwhile did not let her husband interact with her son, since she brought him to Mumbai, but Ghadve kept calling Neelam’s relatives to get information on his son’s wellbeing.

On September 28, Ghadve was called by a relative who asked him to rush to Mumbai since his son was unwell. Ghadve did so but Neelam called him two days later and said his son was hospitalised as he was suffering from fits and had a brain injury. Ghadve and his mother tried to visit the child in the hospital but were not given entry.

On October 1, he was informed that his son was in the ICU at a hospital in Dahisar. Doctors told him that his son was unconscious and on the ventilator. There were bruise marks on his body, back and thighs, burns on his thighs, skin peeled off on private parts and head injuries causing internal bleeding. Both his collar bones had fractures. All the injuries appear to be 4 to 6 weeks old. Based on the doctor’s report Ghadve approached the police and registered a case against Neelam and her boyfriend, under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Pravin Patil, senior police inspector of Dahisar police station, said that the couple was arrested as the injuries were a few weeks old. They will have to verify how he suffered the injuries. “The couple was produced before a court and was remanded to police custody on Friday. We will now scan through their phones and record statements to verify whether the kid was tortured by them and what was their motive behind the brutal assault,” said Patil.