Mother drowns newborn soon after birth

Thodupuzha: The case in which an infant was found dead in a water-filled bucket at Mankuzhy in Idukki on Thursday was, in fact, a murder, with the police saying the mother had drowned the newborn inside the toilet of her rented house soon after the birth.

The shocking murder was revealed after the results of an autopsy confirmed the suspicion of the police. It was found that the infant had breathed normally soon after birth and that there was excessive water content in the body.

Following this, the police lodged a murder case against the mother, Sujitha (28), a native of Koratty, Thrissur, who presently resides in a rented house at Mankuzhy near Udumbanoor. They informed that the accused would be arrested soon after her discharge from the hospital. She is undergoing treatment at the district hospital for excessive bleeding.

The woman, in an exhausted stage, came to the Thodupuzha district hospital along with her husband around 1.30 am on Thursday and sought treatment. The doctors turned suspicious and informed the police. Soon, a team under Karimanoor SHO Sumesh Sudhakaran reached the house where the couple lived on rent. They found the infant dead in a water-filled bucket inside the toilet.

The accused later told the police that she had left the newborn in the water-filled plastic bucket to hide the matter from her husband. Her spouse, too, stated that he was unaware she was carrying.

None knew woman was pregnant

The woman and her family rented out the top portion of a house at Mankuzhy just a month ago. The neighbours didn’t know that Sujitha was pregnant.

Even the women living near the house interacted with her quite a few times, but none got any hint of her pregnancy.

Though some health workers had reached her house a few days ago, noticing the change in her physical appearance, she tricked them all by saying that she was taking medicine to put on weight.