CUDDALORE: A woman in her 30s and her 25-year-old cousin, with whom she is allegedly in a relationship, were arrested on Saturday after the rape and murder of her three-year-old daughter in Tiruvannamalai. While being brought to Cuddalore, the suspect, in a bid to escape from the police custody, jumped off a bridge, fracturing his leg. The arrest follows the complaint filed by the woman’s husband who grew suspicious about the girl’s death.
The man, a resident of Cuddalore, in his complaint filed at Cuddalore New Town Police Station on Wednesday, said his wife had walked out with three of their four children – two sons and two daughters – two weeks ago, and had been staying with her cousin a village in Tiruvannamalai district.
He said around midnight on Tuesday, his wife had informed him that their younger daughter, aged three, had fainted and was taken to the Primary Health Centre in Tindivanam, where the doctors allegedly declared her dead. She also told him that she would bring the child’s body to Chidambaram along with their daughter. However, as she failed to turn up, the man and his relatives travelled to Cuddalore, and later, found the woman near Uzhavar Sandhai in Cuddalore. Sources said the man grew suspicious when his wife failed to give satisfactory explanation for the injuries on the girl’s body.
The child’s body was sent to Government Villupuram Medical College Hospital in Mundiyampakkam for postmortem.
The preliminary postmortem report confirmed the child was raped before being murdered.
Upon questioning, the woman revealed that her cousin had raped the child a few days ago and that the girl had died on Tuesday night. Her cousin was arrested in his village near Tiruvannamalai.
“While being brought to the police station, the suspect asked permission to relieve himself near the Kumathanmedu check post. After he stepped out of the vehicle, he jumped from a bridge and fractured his right leg,” said a police official.