VIRUDHUNAGAR: The Rajapalayam South police on Tuesday booked a 22-year-old man residing at a private hostel for children near Rajapalayam on charges of murdering a six-year-old inmate by throwing him into a farm well. Preliminary inquiries indicate that the accused, Naveen, is mentally ill.
According to sources, Vennila, a resident of Teachers' Colony, left her two children at the government-licensed hostel in the locality and returned to Tiruppur citing her inability to care for them after being abandoned by her husband. One of her children, Sai Sanjeevi, had completed Class 1.
In the early hours of Monday, Naveen carried a sleeping Sanjeevi through a back door at the hostel and threw him into a nearby farm well. When the boy was found missing in the morning, hostel staff began a search, only to find the child's body in the well later in the day, sources said.
On information, the Rajapalayam South police recovered Sanjeevi’s body and sent it for post-mortem.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that Naveen committed the murder.