In a heart-rending incident, a 10-year-old boy was strangled to death by his aunt at Kaipuzha, near Kottayam, early Tuesday.
The Gandhinagar police said the incident occurred around 2.30 a.m. when Rahul, who was staying with his grandparents, was strangled by his father’s sister Vijayamma, 53, with the cord of her skirt.
The incident was reported to the police over telephone by the accused herself. Rahul, son of Shaji, a non-resident Indian, and Bindu, a nurse at the Government Medical College Hospital here, was staying with his father’s parents Raghavan and Kamalakshi at Kaipuzha ever since his parents became estranged. His father’s sister Vijayamma who was settled in Mumbai with her family had arrived at the house on Monday evening.
Vijayamma told the police that Rahul was sleeping along with his grandmother and her. He got up from sleep after midnight and Vijayamma too was awakened. When they went back to bed, she strangled him. She then dialled 100 and told the police that she had killed the child. She then informed her father who rushed outside and came back with his nephew who lived nearby. By that time, the Ettumanur police and the Flying Squad had arrived on the spot. When Rahul was being taken to hospital, Vijayamma said there was no use as everything was over.
She was taken into custody and handed over to the Gandhinagar police which has jurisdiction over Kaipuzha.