The R.S. Puram police arrested a 50-year-old woman here on Wednesday on charges of murdering her one-year-old grandson.
The police said Nanthini (24) got married to a relative five years ago. After she had differences of opinion with her husband, she and her younger son Dhurkesh started living with her mother R. Nagalakshmi for the past eight months. Her four-year-old son is with her husband.
As per the complaint lodged by Nanthini at the R.S. Puram police station, she left home for work at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and returned at 9.30 p.m.
Nagalakshmi told Nanthini that the child slept around 7.30 p.m. after which she locked the house and went out to dump garbage. When she returned, the child was lying on the floor and he was put in the cradle again.
According to the First Information Report, Nanthini noticed froth coming out of her son’s mouth. The child was rushed to a nearby private hospital where doctors advised them to take him to another hospital.
The toddler was taken to the other hospital from where he was referred to a multispeciality hospital around 11 p.m.
The doctors, who examined the child, found that he was dead.
Nanthini lodged a complaint with the police suspecting foul play in her son’s death.
“The boy’s body had marks of beating. After the autopsy findings showed that the boy’s skull had a crack and a biscuit wrap was found stuck in his throat, Nagalakshmi confessed that she beat the child as she did not want to take care of him. Also, she believed that the child could be a reason for her daughter’s separation from her husband,” said a police officer.
The officer said Nagalakshmi was remanded in judicial custody on Thursday.
