A one-and-a-half-year-old girl was murdered allegedly by her grandmother's partner in Kochi.
The incident took place in a hotel room at Kaloor in Kochi during the late hours of Tuesday. John Benoy D'cruz, a native of Kochi, was arrested in this connection.
D'Cruz, aged around 30, along with a woman, aged around 45, and two children occupied the hotel room on Saturday night by posing as husband, wife and children.
On early hours of Wednesday the couple informed the hotel staff that the girl child suffered choking while having milk and took her to hospital.
Since the child was brought dead to the hospital and it was found that water entered the lungs of the child, doctors became suspicious and alerted the police. On police quizzing, the murder was revealed.
According to police sources, as per preliminary information, D'Cruz murdered the child by drowning her in a bucket of water following an altercation with the woman.
The deceased kid as well the other four year old boy with them were the woman's son's children. The children's father was bedridden after an accident and their mother is working abroad. Hence the grandmother was taking care of the children.
Altercation over the child's paternity was suspected to be the provocation. The role of the grandmother in the murder was being probed into, said the police.
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Published 09 March 2022, 14:54 IST