Chennai: Three days after a three-year-old child was presumed to have died due to injuries suffered while falling down the stairs, police arrested the live-in partner of the child’s mother for murder.
The accused, Vijay (24) moved in with the child’s mother, Jamuna Rani at a house in Othavadai Street in Puzhal few months ago. He murdered the child as he considered him to be a hindrance to his relationship with the woman, police said.
The woman was married to one Gopinath and the couple had two children - a 4-year-old daughter and the boy, Sabarish. The couple got separated due to personal issues and Gopinath lived alone with his daughter while his wife moved in with her partner and her three-year-old child, Sabarish, police investigations revealed.
On Sunday (August 27), only the accused and the child were at home. Jamuna Rani went to visit her parents at Annai Sathya Nagar in Vyasarpadi. The accused was the one who admitted the child to a private hospital near Puzhal saying that the child had fallen down the stairs. The child was moved to the Government Stanley Hospital where he died.
Meanwhile, on a complaint from the child’s father who suspected foul play in the death, Puzhal police began investigating.
“During investigations, it was found that the child had injuries on his head,” a police officer said. Investigators took Vijay under custody and probed him to find out that he had smashed the child's head against a wall and rolled him down the stairs leading to his death. The accused worked as a casual labourer.
Puzhal police altered the case from CrPC Section 174 (unnatural death) to 302 IPC (murder) and arrested the accused, Vijay. He was produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.
