Navi Mumbai woman ties 5-year-old son to herself, jumps to death into trench

Walumbe’s suicide note said she had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and she went into depression after that

pranab.bhuyan@htlive.com

The police said Walumbe might have tied her son to herself before jumping because she was worried about his future (Pic for representation)

A 32-year-old woman from Airoli committed suicide along with her five-year-old son by jumping into a trench on Monday. Their bodies were recovered from the water on Tuesday.

According to the police, Shobha Sandeep Walumbe and her son Arjun had left home around 5 am on Monday, but they did not return.

Panicked, their family members had registered a missing persons’ case with the police on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, some local residents spotted their bodies floating in the water and informed the police.

“It appears that Walumbe tied her son to her with a scarf and then jumped into the water. The trench was dug by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) for developing an auditorium at that place. However, work was not going on at the site for the past few days. Their family members identified the bodies,” said Pradeep Tidar, senior police inspector of Rabale police station.

Tidar said Walumbe killed herself along with her son because of family issues. The police have recovered a suicide note from their house. “The woman’s husband also reportedly committed suicide around three years ago. After that she stayed with her in-laws and two kids. She had a daughter who’s elder to Arjun,” said another police officer.

Walumbe might have tied her son to herself before jumping because she was worried about his future, he said.

The police sent the bodies to the NMMC hospital in Vashi for conducting post-mortem and then delivered it to their families. The post-mortem reports are yet to come.

The police have registered an accidental death case and are recording the statements of Walumbe’s family members. “We are also talking to their neighbours and trying to find out if there were some other reasons behind the suicide,” the officer said.