Woman arrested for strangling 2-month-old daughter to death

Kolkata: A 35-year-old woman strangled her two-month-old daughter and then dumped the child into a manhole in front of her own apartment at CIT Road in Beliaghata. The police have already arrested Sandhya Malo on charges of murder, after she admitted her crime amidst prolonged interrogation by the sleuths.

"We have arrested the woman identified as Sandhya Malo on charges of killing her own child. She claimed that she was tired of the baby's constant nags and cries and killed her. Further investigation is on," said a senior official of the detective department of Kolkata Police.

The woman was produced at Sealdah Court on Monday and was remanded to police custody till February 4.

Sleuths have learnt that the woman had put tape on the mouth of her child and also tied it around her neck, strangulating her. She then throttled the baby to ensure her death.

The woman had initially claimed that her child was abducted from her 2nd floor flat by an unknown male, while she was alone on Sunday afternoon. The woman had injuries on her forehead and had claimed that the miscreant had banged her head against a wall, after which she fell unconscious.

When her father in-law Hemant Malo entered the flat at around 1.30 pm, he found her lying unconscious in front of the refrigerator and alerted others.

However, during the course of investigation police scanned the CCTV footages of the apartment and found no unnatural entry into the flat.

Police then started questioning the woman and found several inconsistencies in her statement. Ultimately after thorough grilling, the woman admitted that she had killed her own child.

Police subsequently recovered the child's body from the manhole and also seized a packet of tape from the drawing room of the apartment.

The injuries that were on her forehead were found to be self-inflicted, which she did to divert the course of investigation. The crime was committed inside the drawing room, after which the woman put the child inside a packet and dumped her into the manhole.

According to investigators, the woman had planned the timing of the murder much earlier. Her husband was away at the time along with their eight-year-old son, to offer puja at a shrine.

Meanwhile, the security guard was also away to buy medicine for an elderly man who lived in the apartment next to her. She knew beforehand that the guard would be away at that time.

The police, however, are yet to ascertain the motive behind the act and will take the help of psychiatrists for the purpose.