Woman and her mother arrested in Mumbai for killing her infant, dumping body in garbage bin

20-year-old from Kalyan slit the throat of her one-day-old infant as she did not want to upset her relationship with her two boyfriends, who have also been arrested

Four people, including a woman and her mother, have been arrested on Friday for killing a one-day-old baby boy, in Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s Dombivli area.

Four people, including the infant’s mother and grandmother, have been arrested for the murder. (FILE PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATION ONLY)

The accused, identified as Mata Mandir Banerjee, 20, and her mother Shanta, 45, killed the baby that she gave birth to on Saturday to hide the fact from her two boyfriends. Sources said Mata was unmarried and did not want the two men to know that she had delivered and spoil relationships.

The police have also arrested the two boyfriends, Kamlesh Bhanushali, 29, a Kalyan resident, and Mahesh Bande, 24, a resident of Kalwa. All four accused do odd jobs for a living.

On Monday, residents of Sai Siddhi Park apartments at Manpada, Dombivli, called the police after they opened a plastic bag dumped at the back of their building and discovered a newborn’s body in it. Residents said they investigated what was in the bag as they had just cleaned the building’s garbage area on Sunday.

The Manpada police registered a case of murder and alerted the Thane crime branch unit 3, which took over the investigation.

There were no CCTV cameras at the spot, so the police tracked down the accused through investigations. Saju Jhon, senior police inspector from Thane crime branch unit 3, said: “We found that the child belongs to a woman who lives in Kalyan, and tracked her down. We found that she had two boyfriends.”

“We also found that the woman had been given pills by both boyfriends to terminate the pregnancy, but the pills did not work, so the accused decided to kill the child,” a police officer from Thane commissionerate said, requesting anonymity. “The accused, Mata, and her mother did the actual killing.” On Sunday, the two women slit the infant’s throat with a sharp weapon, packed the body in a plastic bag and dumped it at Manpada.

“Both boyfriends are denying that the baby is theirs. We will be sending them both for DNA tests to clear the matter,” the officer added. “They will be produced in court soon.”