At 4 am on Friday morning, D Latha, a resident of Anjapur village on the outskirts of Hyderabad, woke up to check on her 2-month-old baby, D Umameshwar, but found the child missing. She alerted her family members, neighbours and the Abdullapurmet police, who began a frantic search for the baby.
The only occupants of the house were Latha, her elder brother Balraj, her sister-in-law Swetha, parents and the family pet dog. The house was also locked from the inside and there were no signs of a break-in either. CCTV footage from the locality also did not provide much leads. At around 7 am, one of the locals assisting the family with the search, opened the lid of the water tank to find the body of the missing infant floating inside.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police, K Purushotham Reddy told the media on Friday that they suspected the role of family members. On Saturday, police arrested Latha’s sister-in-law Swetha, who allegedly bore a grudge against Latha.
D Latha has been married to Dusari Tirumalesh for 12 years and had moved in with her parents at Anjapur village under the Rachakonda commissionerate to deliver her first child. Her husband resides at Chintalkunta, LB Nagar. Police said, Latha’s sister-in-law, Swetha suffered a miscarriage in February this year. But she was laughed at and insulted by Latha for the miscarriage.
Swetha, looking to take revenge for the hurt caused by Latha, took the sleeping infant with an intent to kill sometime past 3:50 am, said police. She first attempted to kill the child by pressing his nose and chest but the baby started crying. She dropped the infant into the water tank in panic and waited to confirm its death. Swetha then went to her room and slept, said the police statement.
What helped the police to crack the case was the family pet dog. The dog barks in the presence of outsiders but was quiet on Friday night. Police had found no signs of a forced entry either which made the police suspect family members. The family had gone to sleep past 1 am on Friday. Police took assistance from the forensic team and a dog squad for the investigation. A case of murder was registered under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.