Namakkal: Father held for drowning 12-day-old girl in tank

NAMAKKAL: The Komarapalayam police in Namakkal district on Monday arrested a 23-year-old daily-wage earner for allegedly killing his 12-day-old baby girl by heartlessly thrusting her into a water tank at his neighbour’s premises.

Police said Bhoopathy of Kallankattuvalasu village near Komarapalauyam, who had married to 21-year-old Dhanalakshmi last year, was not in favour of having a child now when his wife conceived recently, as both were daily-wage earners and were finding it to make both ends meet. 

However, with Dhanalakshmi in the family way, Bhoopathy’s parents maintained a studious silence as they did not favour their daughter-in-law to go in for an abortion despite Bhoopathy not keen to have a child. This caused frequent frictions in familial ties, police said. 

After Dhanalakshmi delivered a girl child at the Komarapalayam government hospital on December 6, Bhoopathy’s parents advised him to resume regular work in the interests of the child. Dhanalakshmi had not been able to go for work during the past four months for medical reasons. 

With Bhoopathy being irregular for work, Dhanalakashmi had reportedly chided him two days back that there was no money at home even to buy milk for the infant.

 In the wee hours today, Dhanalakshmi after breastfeeding her child had gone back to sleep, but around 5 am was shocked to find her girl missing. 

The couple searched for the child at various places, but to no avail.  Bhoopathy then lodged a complaint with the Komarapalayam police on the ‘missing’ girl child. 

Police mounted a search for the child and were shocked to find the infant’s body floating in a water tank in a neighbour’s plot. 

Further enquiries revealed that Bhoopathy, who resented having a child now, had been feeling depressed over the arrival of a girl child and had shoved her into the water tank.

 Police took Bhoopathy into custody, while the body of the baby girl was sent to the Salem government hospital for post-mortem.