A 35-year-old woman from Kerala has been arrested for allegedly throwing her three-year-old daughter off a bridge into the Chalakudy river in Ernakulam district. The incident took place on the evening of Monday, May 19, and the child’s body was recovered early the next morning after an eight-and-a-half-hour search operation. The motive behind the crime is unclear.
The woman, identified as Sandhya, allegedly committed the crime near the Moozhikulam Bridge in Chengamanad. She has been arrested and charged with murder following a police investigation that revealed discrepancies in her statements.
According to the police, Sandhya, a resident of Thiruvankulam, picked up her daughter Kalyani from her Anganwadi school and boarded a bus with her. CCTV footage confirmed the child was with her when they got off near Moozhikulam Bridge, located just 100 metres from the bus stop. However, she later reached her mother’s house in Kurumasseri alone in an auto-rickshaw. The auto driver confirmed to the police that Sandhya was unaccompanied during the ride.
Meanwhile, Sandhya’s husband Subash had been waiting for her at their house since 3.30 pm. Subash claimed that his wife had called him earlier in the day asking him to buy a pressure cooker’s washer. However, he reportedly said that he was away and would not reach home early.
When he returned home, Kalyani and Sandhya were missing. He assumed that Sandhya must have gone to the shop to buy the pressure cooker’s washer.
However, as they did not return home after nearly three hours, he called Sandhya’s parents at around 6.30 pm to check if his wife and daughter were there, for which they replied in negative.
Subash blamed his mother-in-law and sister-in-law for the crime, claiming that they must have influenced his wife.
“Sandhya only listens to what her mother and sister says. If she did something like this, I am sure that her mother would also know about it.”
Sandhya’s mother told the media that she came to her house at around 7 pm. When they asked where Kalyani was, she said that she “lost” her. She also said that Sandhya and Subash were constantly fighting and not on good terms.
Police began searching the area, and Kalyani’s body was found around 2.30 a.m. on May 20. It is currently kept at the Aluva Taluk Hospital mortuary.