THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A two-year-old baby girl was allegedly killed by her maternal uncle who threw her into a well near Balaramapuram on Thursday. Devendu is the daughter of Sreethu and Sreejith, who live separately. Harikumar, 24, threw the toddler into a well near their rented house at Kottukalkonam, the Balaramapuram police said.
Officers arrested Harikumar after a detailed interrogation. He is expected to be presented in court on Friday. The exact reason for the alleged crime has not been ascertained. It’s suspected that the child was killed due to a family dispute, a police source said.
The child went missing around 5.30 am on Thursday, which triggered a frantic search by family members and local residents. After their efforts proved unsuccessful, the family informed police. Officers found the toddler’s body in the well around 8 am. The body was retrieved by Fire and Rescue Services personnel and sent to the medical college hospital for postmortem.
The autopsy confirmed that the child had drowned. No other injuries were detected on the body. During questioning, the child’s parents, Harikumar and grandmother Sreekala provided contradictory statements, which raised suspicions. During further interrogation, Harikumar confessed to the crime. But he did not give a clear answer as to why he committed the crime, the source said.
According to the police, the child was thrown into the well alive. Officers suspect the possible involvement of Sreethu. Some chat messages between Sreethu and Harikumar were found to have been deleted from her phone.
Meanwhile, the family said that a fire broke out in the room where the child’s maternal uncle was sleeping in the morning. They said that after extinguishing the fire, they noticed the child was missing.
Sreethu, her two children, Harikumar and Sreekala lived in a rented house. Sreejith has been living separately for some time. Sreethu’s father had passed away recently.
Sreejith had visited the house a couple of days back to attend his father-in-law’s 16th-day rituals.