KATHMANDU: A six-year-old child was reportedly tortured to death in Pranawananda Ashram at Guheshwori, his kin alleged.

Om Hospital had declared Rupesh Giri, hailing from Diktel Municipality of Khotang, dead soon after he was rushed there for treatment.

The child was enrolled in Ashram one-and-half month ago. Kabita Giri, the victim’s mother alleged that the self-proclaimed gurus of Ashram had tortured him to death. They showed bruises and fresh wounds in his face, throat and body to support their claims.

“Someone telephoned me this morning and said that my son was taken to ill and was undergoing treatment at Om Hospital. But, the hospital had already declared him dead before even I could reach there,” the victim’s mother said, accused the men in the Ashram of killing him.

“They used to bar me from meeting my son in the Ashram. Now I realise that they had tortured him mentally and physically,” she reasoned. Kabita, a dishwasher at a tea shop in Gaushala, said that he was put in care of Ashram due to poverty. The body has been referred to the TU Teaching Hospital for post-postmortem.The child’s father is currently in the Gulf for employment.

Metropolitan Police Sector, Bouddha has arrested four suspects in connection with the mysterious death of the child.