TIRUVANNAMALAI: In a case of suspected female infanticide, police have registered a case against four persons, including a couple, following the mysterious death of their newborn baby delivered at Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital. Since the couple had cremated the baby which allegedly died on the day of delivery, it has become difficult for the investigators to collect evidences.
R Vimala, a resident of Kilpalur, Kalasappakkam, gave birth to a female baby at the Government Tiruvannamalai Medical College Hospital on April 17. Later, the woman and her husband Raja had quietly slipped out of the hospital without informing the doctors attending to her. Based on an alert that it could be a case of infanticide, Collector KS Kandasamy directed police to hold inquiries into the matter.
Tiruvannamalai police picked up Vimala’s husband Raja and interrogated him, while Vimala, who had already gone to her mother’s place in Singarapet, Krishnagiri, was quizzed there by the local police.
They had stated that since the baby died on the same of day of delivery, they took it to their house and cremated it later.
The inquiries also revealed that Vimala and Raja had two girl children, and she had aborted twice earlier before giving birth to the fifth baby. The investigators suspect that the couple could have taken the baby to Singarapet before killing it and they had cremated the body cleverly to wipe out any evidence.
The cremation of the baby has made it difficult for the investigators to find any evidence in connection with the matter.“It seems to be a case of female infanticide but there is no evidence to prove it as the baby was cremated,” an officer involved in the probe told Express.
The Singarapet police registered a case under section 176 (omission to give notice of information to public servant by person legally bound to it) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Apart from Vimala and Raja, the woman’s grandparents have also been booked by the police. Collector Kandasamy directed the local police to hand over Raja to the Singarapet police station so that interrogations could be held easily.