CHENNAI: A 38-year-old man was arrested by the Vyasarpadi police on Wednesday for allegedly stabbing his nine-day-old daughter to death with a pair of scissors.
The man, who already has two daughters aged four and two, was upset that his third child, born on June 29, was also a girl, said police.
According to the police, V Rajkumar, a daily wage labourer, was hoping for a boy when his wife of six years became pregnant for the third time.
However, an astrologer he consulted told him he would be having a girl. Rajkumar’s sister too raised concerns about how he would raise three daughters with his wages.
“The couple then decided to get an abortion. However, since the woman was already five months pregnant, the doctors advised against it and the couple gave up on the idea. As the wife’s due date approached, Rajkumar continued to hope that the baby would be a boy. But when a girl was born, he was visibly agitated,” a police officer said.
On July 7, the mother went to the bathroom leaving the infant in the care of Rajkumar.
At that time, he allegedly stabbed the baby with a pair of scissors. When she returned, Rajkumar told his wife that the child’s intestine had burst, resulting in severe injuries to her abdomen. Believing this, the woman along with Rajkumar rushed the child to Government RSRM Lying In Hospital.
Woman told cops hubby was keen to cremate baby
The hospital authorities alerted child welfare officials and the police about the incident.
Police said that when he was questioned at this point, Rajkumar denied any knowledge of the injury.
On July 9, the child died without responding to treatment following which police registered a case of unnatural death. When the postmortem report revealed that the injuries were caused by a sharp object, the case was altered to murder.
“Meanwhile, the wife grew suspicious of Rajkumar as he was keen on cremating the body immediately. When she questioned him about this, he almost spilled the beans.
During the inquiry, the woman told the police them about her suspicion and Rajkumar was arrested. Eventually, he confessed to the crime,” the police added. Rajkumar was remanded to judicial custody on Wednesday.