Man allegedly buries alive 15-day-old daughter in Tamil Nadu, arrested

The horrific incident of alleged infanticide took place in Vadamaruthur village Villupuram district, about 200 kilometres away from Chennai.

A labourer in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district allegedly buried alive his 15-day old daughter early Tuesday because he did not want a girl child, police said.

The man was unhappy at the birth of his daughter because he had wanted a son. (Representative photo/Getty Images)

The horrific incident of alleged infanticide took place in Vadamaruthur village Villupuram district, about 200 kilometres away from Chennai. Police have arrested the baby’s father D Varadarajan (25) for killing the infant.

The girl is said to have been born on October 20 to Varadarajan and his wife K Soundarya (19) who were married in August 2018.

Police said that preliminary investigation revealed that Varadarajan, who was unhappy at the birth of the girl, took away the baby when it was sleeping next to its mother and buried her in the Thenpennai riverbed close to his house. Varadarajan was upset with the baby girl since he wanted a boy.

“The baby girl was sleeping with her mother Soundarya on Monday night. When Soundarya woke up at 1 am feed it, she noticed it was missing. When she raised a hue and cry, her relatives and neighbours searched the baby for the whole night. Finally, they found it was buried in the river bed. Soundarya and others identified the footprints of Varadarajan in the Thenpennai riverbed,” a police officer said.

Varadarajan is a school dropout and worked as a daily wage earner.

“Since the day the girl baby was born, Varadarajan was very depressed. He often publicly said that he would kill the girl child. So, we started interrogating him. The accused has confessed that he killed the child,” said one of investigating officers who did not want to be named.

The officer also said that Soundarya has filed a complaint against her husband for their daughter’s murder.

“We have exhumed the body and sent it to Tirukovilur Government Hospital for autopsy. A case has been filed over this death,” the officer said.

Another police officer said Varadarajan had repeatedly threatened Soundarya that he would kill the baby.

“As the accused had threatened the life of the child, Soundarya had taken the baby to her maternal house. However, Varadarajan went to Soundarya and pleaded with her to return promising that he won’t harm the baby. So, Soundarya returned to her husband’s house on Monday morning. But he killed the child in the early hours of Tuesday,” the officer said.