BENGALURU: A three-year-old girl was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday evening in DJ Halli. Based on reports from relatives and neighbours, police suspect that the girl may have died after being beaten up by her mother who wanted a male child.
Police are waiting for the postmortem report. A senior police officer said, “The deceased is Varsha, daughter of daily wagers Priya and Manjunath. They also have a son. The couple, who hail from Kolar, are residents of Kavalbyrasandra near RT Nagar.”
The neighbours, who came to know about the girl’s death, alerted the police and claimed that Priya used to beat the girl often. Police have also found an old injury on the girl’s right leg and were told that she had sustained a fracture after she fell down accidentally. She was also undergoing a treatment at a small Ayurvedic centre for a while. The girl’s body was shifted to Ambedkar hospital and the police are waiting the medical report to ascertain the exact cause of the death. DJ Halli police have registered a case of unnatural death and further investigations are on, the officer said.
Police, during their investigations, came across certain observations by some of the relatives and neighbours, which has made them suspect that the girl’s mother Priya may have killed her.
Priya’s aunt Yeshodamma, in a statement to police, said, “The couple was not happy after Varsha was born as they wanted a male child. Thus, she used to regularly harass Varsha by hitting her with a heated iron box. She also used to lock the girl inside the room and neighbours used to feed her. Priya is now three months pregnant. She has been telling her relatives that if she delivers another girl baby, she would kill the newborn. She is responsible for Varsha’s death.”
Latha, a neighbour, said, Priya used to stuff clothes in Varsha’s mouth while thrashing her. “She was doing it to muffle Varsha’s screams so that it doesn’t attract neighbours attention,” she alleged.