LUCKNOW, March 15 -- Police on Saturday arrested a man and his second wife after the post-mortem examination of his four-year-old son from his first marriage revealed multiple injuries on the child's body, raising suspicion of sustained physical abuse before his death in Chowk area late on Thursday night. The accused have been identified as Bhishm Kharbanda and his wife Ragini, residents of Lajpat Nagar under the Chowk police station limits. The post-mortem examination conducted on Friday found as many as 18 serious injury marks on his body and multiple fractures, prompting investigators to suspect that the boy had been brutally beaten and possibly suffocated, said a police officer. "Based on a complaint filed by the child's maternal grandmother, police registered a murder case against his father and stepmother. Both were taken into custody for questioning and later arrested after the post-mortem findings supported allegations of physical abuse," said DCP West Vishwajeet Srivastava. According to the maternal family, the boy had been living with them in Unnao after the death of his mother Swati in April 2022. Swati had married Bhishm Kharbanda in November 2020 and the child was born in October 2021. After Swati's death, her family alleged that Bhishm remarried Ragini and later sought custody of the child. Relatives said the boy was handed over to his father in August 2025 following a court order. However, they alleged that after taking custody, his father and stepmother frequently thrashed him. The maternal relatives further alleged that they were rarely allowed to speak to the boy after he went to live with his father. On receiving information about the child's death on Thursday, members of his maternal family rushed to Lucknow and alleged they saw multiple injury marks on the body. A brief altercation also broke out between the two sides outside the mortuary on Friday. After the autopsy, the child's maternal relatives took the body and performed his last rites.htc...