Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 3 (IANS): A six-year-old boy, Althaf of Anakkalungal in Idukki district was hammered to death by his aunt's husband. The culprit Shahjahan is absconding.

Police said that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday and family dispute is the reason behind the horrific attack. Shahjahan's wife Sabitha and his sister in law's family were living nearby.

Recently Safia parted ways with Shahjahan and started living with her parents and this infuriated Shahjahan. With the belief that his sister-in-law was the reason for his wife parting from him, Shahjahan reached the home of Safiya and hammered her six-year-old son. Safiya is at Idukki Government Medical college with serious injuries.

The deceased Althaf's fifteen-year-old sister was also attacked by Shahjahan but she ran away from home and found shelter at a neighbour's place.

Sudhir Khan, a neighbour told IANS, "We woke up on hearing cries and sounds in the neighbourhood and found that Althaf was unconscious and bleeding and we immediately took him to the hospital. He was declared brought dead. His sister ran to a neighbour's house for shelter and escaped the attack. Shahjahan is missing and we came to know that police is conducting a search for him."