ERODE: A woman was arrested on Monday on charges of murdering her newborn granddaughter in a private hospital in Bhavani in Erode district. The arrested woman has been identified as Thangamani,47, of Kottapalayam in Salem district. Thangamani’s husband, Balakrishnan, died a few years ago. Her daughter, Priyadarshini, 25, wife of Selvakumar of Kottapalayam, was admitted to a private hospital for delivery on July 17. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl through c-section at 5am on July 18. Soon after birth, the infant died under suspicious circumstances. Hospital authorities noticed injuries on the baby’s neck and alerted the Bhavani police. During investigations, police suspected foul play as Thangamani gave contradictory statements. “The body was sent to Perundurai IRTT Medical College Hospital for postmortem,” said an officer at the Bhavani police station. He added that the report confirmed that the newborn had been strangled. Based on the postmortem report, police arrested Thangamani. During interrogations, she confessed to murdering the newborn. The woman said she believed that her daughter would suffer raising two girls, as Priyadarshini already had a four-year-old daughter. She cited her son-in-law’s alcoholism and financial irresponsibility as reasons for murdering the baby. The Bhavani police registered a murder case against Thangamani. She was remanded in judicial custody.
