KOCHI: In A heinous crime, a man allegedly killed a toddler by drowning her in a bucket of water in the bathroom of a hotel here. Though the accused, John Binoy D’Cruz of Pallaykatt, Palluruthy, claimed the 20-month-old Nora Maria died after choking on the milk which she had drunk from a feeding bottle, a hospital in the city informed the police that the 26-year-old and the girl’s grandmother brought her dead. The incident took place on Monday around 10.30pm.
A team led by North police station SHO Prasanth Clint arrested John after they collected fingerprints and other forensic evidence against him. Police said John has been in a relationship with the child’s grandmother, Cipssy PM, 43, of Ponnarath, Angamaly.
They are probing whether Cipssy had any involvement in the murder as the incident took place in the hotel where she was staying along with John from last Saturday. Both Nora and her five-year-old brother were along with them. The child belonged to Cipssy’s son Sajeesh.
His wife Dixy, who is the mother of the two children, works in a West Asian country and the children were looked after by Cipssy after Sajeesh took to criminal activities and recently got injured in an attack. Cipssy was living separated from her husband. She met John a year ago and their friendship grew into an affair. John was produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody. Police will seek his custody to complete evidence collection.