A 28-year-old woman from Villupuram district was arrested by the police last Friday for the murder of her sons.
Jayachitra, a married homemaker from Panamkuppam, drowned her children, a 7-month-old baby boy and a four-year-old son named Mithun, within the last two months.
According to the police, she murdered her younger son, last September, in Pudupettai district by drowning him into a vessel filled of water. On last Friday, she killed Mithun in the similar way, but this time she used a water tank. Following this, she went missing from her residence until the police tracked her down in Melmaruvathur in Kanchipuram district.
"After the death of the younger child, Pudupettai police had filed a case of suspicious death. However, the family members had claimed that it was an accident," said D Jayakumar, Superintendent of Police, Villupuram.
Jayachitra fled home after the death of her younger son too. Then her parents had claimed that she did so as she was afraid that she would be blamed for the mishap, according to reports.
But two months later, she killed Mithun when her husband was away at her work place and the relatives in their native village.
"After she dropped him into a water tank, she went missing again and we found her. This time, when interrogated at the police station, she admitted to murdering both children," said Jayakumar.
The motive behind the dreadful act is still unclear as the police and medical experts differed in their coclusions.
"She told us that she had fits of depression from childhood with her condition worsening after the second delivery," said Jayakumar adding that though she could do household work and continued to have a good relationship with her husband, her mental health may have led her to murder,
Jayakumar claimed.
This theory hasn’t been justified with a medical expert.
While confirming to The News Minute that such behaviour is not rare if a woman is suffering from post-partum depression or psychosis, medical experts said that they cannot rule out the possibility of depression.
"If it is post-partum depression, then she would have tried to kill her children and then herself and in case of psychosis, she may have heard voices that told her to commit these violent acts," said Chennai based psychiatrist, Dr. Jayanthini was quoted by The News Minute as saying.
But, other investigating officials are not convinced by this explanation.
"No motive has been established for her actions yet. We are neither doctors nor magicians to decide if she has a mental illness. She has been lodged in Cuddalore prison. The law will take its course," said a special branch officer investigating the case.