Hyderabad: Poverty forces dad to dump girl's body in drain

Hyderabad: Unable to bear the funeral expenses of his 16-year-old daughter who committed suicide, her father dumped her body in a drain behind his house in Mailardevpally in the first week of May. The incident came to light after residents found the decomposed body of the girl floating in the drain. The girl was identified as S. Bhavani. However on Friday, he performed the final rites of his daughter with the help of the police.

S. Pentaiah, a resident of Bombay Colony works as an operator in Annapurna chemical  factory in Katedan. After his wife Kamalamma left him five years ago, he continued to stay in the locality with his children Sitaram, Bhavani and Shivaji. Two years ago, he borrowed Rs 50,000 to perform the coming-of-age ceremony of Bhavani. Two months back he had to borrow another Rs 50,000 to perform the last rites of his son Sitaram who hanged himself to death.

Bhavani, a school dropout was involved in petty thefts in the neighborhood. Two days before she hanged herself, she stole a mobile phone in the area. It was detected and the phone was recovered by the owner.

On May 6, after Pentaiah went to work and his younger son Shivaji was also away from home, Bhavani hanged herself in the bathroom of her home. Pentaiah who returned from work in the evening found her hanging and brought her down, but she was already dead. With Rs1 lakh debt still to be repaid, Pentaiah decided to dispose off the body himself. He placed the body on the cot. Shivaji returned home and thought she was sleeping. Pentaiah waited till midnight and after making sure that Shivaji was asleep, he carried the body out and dumped it in the drain behind his house.

On May 31, kids in the locality found a white object and started playing with it. One resident, Ghousamma, noticed that it was a human skull and alerted others, who informed the police.

Police later found the body in the drain. A suspicious death case was registered and the body was handed over for autopsy. During inquiry, residents told the police that Pentaiah’s daughter was not seen in the area for more than three weeks. The police questioned Pentaiah and he broke down and admitted that his daughter had hanged herself on May 6, but as he was unable to bear the funeral expenses, he had dumped her body in the drain. “Even if the girl committed suicide, the police should have been informed. For concealing the information, a case was booked against Pentaiah under Section 174 of IPC (Omission to give notice or information to public servant). Based on the autopsy report, we will proceed further,” Mailardevpally inspector S Jagadeeshwar said, adding that Pentaiah was arrested and released on bail.