Kidnap case turns out to be female infanticide

KARIMNAGAR: The Karimangar police on Friday cracked the mystery behind death of the three-month-old female infant, whose body was recovered from the water sump in her house at Bharatnagar in the town on Thursday.The victim’s parents -- Ravinder and Swati -- themselves smothered the baby, Cherry, to death before dumping the body in the water sump, Karimnagar sub-division OSD (crime) DV Srinivasa Rao said. The couple were remanded to judicial custody.Producing the couple before mediapersons here, the OSD said the couple confessed to the crime.  During interrogation, the victim’s parents told police that they decided to kill the infant as they faced several misfortunes since Cherry’s birth. They hoped Cherry to be a boy as they already have a daughter, Manusri. The birth of a girl for a second time pained the couple, their neighbours told police.The couple also told police that they had not slept properly after the birth of Cherry as she was suffering from some illness. Moreover, they  said they found it very difficult to bear the medical expenses, the OSD told mediapersons.To escape punishment, the couple concocted a story that a ‘sadhu’ abducted Cherry along with Swathi’s ‘mangala sutra’ on Wednesday evening and that they found Cherry’s body in the water sump the next day morning.Suspecting foul after fishing out the body from the sump, police took Cherry’s parents into custody and began investigation.The OSD said that the kidnap case has been converted into a murder case.