Hyderabad, May 25 -- A duck rearer in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh has been arrested along with his wife and son for allegedly keeping a nine-year-old tribal boy as bonded labour until his mother repaid a Rs.25,000 loan and later burying his body after he reportedly died due to jaundice, police officials have said.

The case came to light when the boy's mother, Anakamma, contacted the accused, Muthu, to return his money and sought to know the whereabouts of her son. Finding Muthu's responses evasive, Anakamma approached the Tirupati police who launched a probe and found that the boy, Venkatesh, had died and his body had been buried without anyone's knowledge.

According to Anakamma's complaint, she and her husband, Chenchaiah, work...