Gujarat: Police in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, on Monday (Oct 11, 2004) found a four-year-old boy who was severely tortured and had chemicals poured into his eyes.

"The boy, Mahesh Kumbani, has lost his sight forever," Bhavnagar District Superintendent of Police Hasmukh Patel said quoting doctors at Sir T Hospital, who operated upon the child.

The police found the boy in a cotton field in Ugamedi village of Bhavnagar district, with injuries to his throat and private parts and chemicals poured into his eyes.

Asked whether the police had any clues about those responsible for the attack, Patel said, "The child was just asking for his mother and water. We have to wait till he can give us some description of the assailants."

Looking at the type of injuries and the condition in which Mahesh was found, doubts persist whether the attackers wanted to murder the child or just torture him, he said.

"It is an extremely brutal assault. Eight wounds of being thrashed with iron pipes, bidi branded on the throat and injuries on private parts," the DSP said.

The child was standing in the fields and crying when the police found him, he said.

Mahesh, whose parents work in a diamond-cutting unit in Gadhdha town of the district, had gone missing on Friday (Oct 8, 2004) night after telling his sister that he was going out to play.