In a spine-chilling act, a young mother killed her 2-year-old daughter by throwing the baby into a well at Annur, on the outskirts of the city, on Saturday night, as the child was a barrier to the woman marrying her paramour.
K. Narayani alias Nithya, 29, from Sivagangai district, who was married to Karuppaiya, a daily wage labourer, had a daughter, Jothi, police said.
A few months ago, Nithya started having an affair with one Ramasamy, 44, a married man who was employed in a bakery here.
Nithya also started to live with him, police said. Nithya planned to marry Ramasamy on September 11 with her parents granting consent to the marriage.
“Nithya, who thought Jothi to be a hindrance to a harmonious relationship with Ramasamy, planned to kill her. She told M. Kamalaveni, a relative, who was staying with her for a while, what she planned to do. However, Kamalaveni advised her not to do so,” police said.
When she was alone on Saturday evening, Nithya threw Jothi into the 70 feet-deep well that was a little away from her residence. However, Kamalaveni, who was then coming home, noticed the brutal act and shouted for help.
People immediately gathered in large numbers, but stood helplessly as the well was too deep and child had already drowned. A little later, fire and rescue service personnel arrived at the scene and retrieved the body past midnight after hours of effort.
Based on a complaint by Kamalaveni, the Annur cops began a search for Nithya, who had gone into hiding soon after killing the child. The police nabbed the culprit on Sunday. Nithya was remanded and lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison.