The body of an infant who was found floating in the Cooum river near Sivananda Salai on Monday afternoon has been identified as that of Yogeshwari, daughter of a city-based advocate.
The police said the child’s grandfather had paid a man to dump the infant’s body after she died in a hospital.
Police sources said two-month-old Yogeshwari, daughter of advocate Arivazhagan and wife Kavitha, who was born with a heart problem was admitted to Government Children’s hospital in Egmore on Saturday. She died in the early hours of Monday and her grandfather Sekar (54), a resident of Velachery, arranged to dispose off the body as he did not want to take it home and perform the last rites.
Arivazhagan who is estranged from his wife, had got the news of his daughter’s demise and went to his father-in-law Sekar’s house only to be turned away.
The advocate grew suspicious and approached the Triplicane police who probed the matter and detained Sekar on Tuesday evening. He was booked under Section 318 of IPC.