Woman held for killing 3-year-old in Budh Vihar

Pranav Tayal, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini), quoted the suspect as having confessed that she would be taunted by her in-laws and others for having not conceived in eight years of marriage, and she killed the boy as a “sacrifice” in the hope that she would bear a child.

A woman strangulated a three-year-old boy to death, stuffed his body in a sack and dumped it on the roof of a building in outer Delhi’s Budh Vihar on Saturday, the police said on Sunday after arresting the suspect.

25-year-old Neelam Gupta. has been arrested and booked for murder.

Pranav Tayal, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini), quoted the suspect as having confessed that she would be taunted by her in-laws and others for having not conceived in eight years of marriage, and she killed the boy as a “sacrifice” in the hope that she would bear a child. “She said she worked on the advice of a self-styled godman she met four years ago,” said Tayal.

Local enquiry, eyewitness accounts and loopholes in the woman’s statements to the police gave her away, said the DCP. “We arrested the woman. She told us that she killed the boy as a sacrifice as she was under pressure due to constant taunts of her in-laws and the society in general for not being able to conceive,” the DCP said.

Investigators said the three-year-old lived with his parents and two siblings on the second floor of a five-storey building in Budh Vihar, near Rohini.

In the same building, on the top floor, lived Pankaj Gupta, husband of the 25-year-old suspect Neelam Gupta.

According to the police, Neelam and Pankaj were married since 2013, but did not have a child. “They sought medical help, but to no avail,” Tayal said.

About four years ago, Neelam had also visited a godman, who apparently told her to sacrifice a child if she wanted to conceive.

The investigators are undecided about whether they should book the alleged godman, as they said Neelam had met the man only once, four years ago.

Neelam, police said, allegedly killed the boy sometime around 9am on Saturday.

The boy’s father, Daya Ram, said,“My wife sent my son to call his sister who was playing on the terrace. My daughter came down, but my son stayed back,” said Daya Ram.

By 9.30am, the family, when the boy did not return, the family began a search and called the police for help around 2pm.

The police checked CCTV footage in the building and ruled out the possibility of the boy leaving the building. Then, one team searched every room in the building, while another began checking the terrace and water tanks. “It was at that time that a police team looked at the roof of a four-storey adjacent building, where they found a large sack lying on one side,” said the boy’s uncle, Rahul Gupta.

That aroused suspicion and the police checked the sack to find the missing boy’s body stuffed inside around 4pm. There were injuries on the boy’s neck suggesting that he had been strangulated.

Several people told the police that Neelam was the last person to be seen with the boy.

She was then picked up for questioning, and by late Saturday night she allegedly confessed to killing the boy. She has been arrested and booked for murder.