A mother and her lover have been arrested in India for murdering the woman's 3-year-old son and burying the child's body to hide the crime, police said.

The suspects, identified as Sasmita Nath and Laxmidhar Bai, from the eastern Indian state of Odisha, were arrested Monday after the duo allegedly killed Nath's son. The incident came to light after the woman's 12-year-old daughter told the cops that her mother killed her brother and buried the body, The Times of India reported.

Police exhumed the child's body Monday and sent it for an autopsy, according to reports.

Sasmita is married to Sukant Nath, and the couple has three children. The deceased child was the youngest of their children.

"The investigation is indicating the involvement of the complainant. A detailed investigation is being carried out. We have detained Laxmidhar Bai and Sasmita Nath and they are being interrogated," Sandhyarani Behera, a senior investigating officer, said when asked about the mother's involvement in the murder, OMMCOM News reported.

Investigators found out that Sasmita got into a relationship with Laxmidhar as her husband started working in another state. Laxmidhar was a tuition teacher of Sasmita's daughter and used to constantly visit the house.

"Investigations so far have revealed that Sasmita and Laxmidhar had an illicit relationship. They had an altercation on October 1 following which Laxmidhar and Sasmita killed the child," Behera added.

Meanwhile, police have not revealed the motive behind the child's murder and how the boy was killed. "We still do not know the modus operandi," another officer said, as per the Times of India. It is also unclear when the child was murdered.

Police lights
Representation. The lights of a police car. tevenet/Pixabay

In a similar incident last year, a 30-year-old mother and her lover in India were arrested in connection with the death of the woman's 7-year-old daughter.

The suspects, identified as V. Vijayalakshmi and her lover R. Vetrivel from Thanjavur, a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, were arrested after the latter assaulted the child while he was inebriated, ending up in her death. The mother then reportedly helped her lover to cover up the murder by throwing the child's body in a river.