Mother drowns one-month-old twins in Panvel

A 30-year-old woman, who had given birth to twin boys one month ago, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly drowning the newborns in a water drum in her flat in New Panvel. G. Mohiuddin Jeddy reports.

A 30-year-old woman, who had given birth to twin boys one month ago, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly drowning the newborns in a water drum in her flat in New Panvel.

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Janardan Thorat, senior police inspector of Khande-shwar police station, said: “Shobha Sonar has told us that circumstances forced her to kill her children. We are trying to find out whether she had been upset.”

Sources said Sonar, who worked as a teacher before delivery, got upset because of their crying and killed them in a fit of rage.

The incident took place while her husband Deepak, 35, an engineer, was at work. “Sonar’s mother-in-law was at home,” Thorat said.

The police said the mother-in-law had gone to sleep after lunch and discovered what had happened when she woke up at 5pm.

“She could not find Sonar and the babies in the rooms. She knocked on the bathroom door. After quite some time, when Sonar opened the door, her mother-in-law saw the two babies drowned in the drum,” Thorat said.

Doctors said Sonar appears to be suffering from post-partum depression and psychosis. “The police should seek help for the woman as she is suffering from a mental illness,” said Dr Harish Shetty, psychiatrist at Hiranandani hospital, Powai.