Woman arrested for killing month-old baby in Chennai

CHENNAI: In a cold blooded murder that shook the conscience of right thinking citizens of the city, a young mother killed her one-month-old baby boy and tried to fake it with a 'baby missing' complaint, which she and her husband filed with the police.

A day after the couple lodged the 'baby missing' complaint, police recovered the child's body from a lake, and on Sunday arrested the mother who the police concluded, had murdered the child and staged a drama at her home in Velachery. 

It transpired that Uma had suffered from consistent pain in her breasts while feeding her baby, which is why she decided to kill the baby. Police sources said that the child's father Venkanna (30), was employed in a supermarket. 

He married Uma (27), two years ago, and the couple lived in Erikkarai, in Velachery. On August 30, Uma gave birth to a baby boy, and the couple named the child Charvik. 

On Saturday, the couple lodged a complaint at the Velachery police station, wherein Uma had stated that she had put the baby to sleep around 4 am on Saturday only to find him missing as she woke up around 5:30 am.

The complaint also stated that they had kept their front door open for ventilation since there was a power cut in the area at that time. Police had registered a case, and launched a search for the baby. As police began investigations, they grilled Uma also who allegedly gave contradictory statements, which led police to suspect her hand in the crime.

Interrogations with Uma’s neighbour revealed that they saw a woman clad in a nightie, carrying the child on her shoulders around 4 am. They also hinted that the woman appeared like the infant’s mother herself.

On intense police grilling, Uma confessed to have killed the child, since she was unable to breastfeed him due to unbearable pain she developed during breastfeeding. “Though she had complained about this to her husband and her mother, both ignored her and failed to provide her medication. They told her that its part of motherhood, and she had to bear this,” said an investigating officer.

It is alleged that she even once told her husband to take away the baby and give it to her mother, to which he refused. Hence, she decided to kill the child and on Saturday threw him in the Velachery lake. Police booked Uma on charges of murder and arrested her.