Two new mothers held for murder and abandonment

In the first case, the Guindy police arrested Vasanthi (22), her mother Vijaya, and the newborn’s father, Jayaraj (23), for killing the baby girl. They are all residents of Kannigapuram.

Police said Vasanthi was taken to a private hospital after she went into labour on September 16 (Tuesday) and the hospital had advised her to go to a government hospital.

But Vasanthi’s mother took her back home and Vasanthi gave birth to the baby at home around 10.30 am. Police said the duo drowned the newborn in a vessel and dumped the body in a dustbin neat their house around 11.30 pm.

The body wrapped in a cloth was found by conservancy workers who came to clear garbage on Wednesday. They alerted the Guindy police immediately.

The police investigation found that Vasanthi was in a relationship with Jayaraj for more than three years and she got pregnant with his child six months ago. Though Vijaya and Vasanthi tried for an abortion at a private hospital, they were sent back by the medical team citing legal reasons. Following this, they decided to deliver the baby at home and kill it eventually.

In the second incident, police arrested Lavanya (22) of Dindigul who works at a textile store in the city for abandoning her newborn girl. Lavanya was engaged to a man two years ago. A year ago, her mother had died of illness and the man refused to marry Lavanya.

But the duo kept meeting each other often and three months ago she realised that she was six months pregnant. When she informed the father of the child, he refused to meet her again, police said.

Lavanya delivered the baby at her house in Porur on October 8 with no help and kept the baby for two days at home. On Ocotber 12, she approached her neighbour to drop her at Karapakkam.

The neighbour dropped her without knowing that Lavanya was carrying the baby in a travel bag. 

On the same day, a watchman of a plywood shop in Karapakkam heard the cries of a baby and found the infant wrapped in a cloth near a bush. He immediately informed police and sent the baby to Egmore Women’s and Children hospital.

Police said that they identified the mothers in both the cases with the help of CCTV camera footage and arrested them.