The police on Friday arrested a 20-year-old woman for murdering her two-and-half year old daughter in order to marry her lover.
Meenakshi from Pollikalipalayam lived with her aged mother and infant daughter, Mahalakshmi, after separating from her husband Kumar, 25, about a year ago.
Two days ago, Meenakshi had rushed to the Tirupur government hospital with the body of her daughter and claimed that her healthy child had suddenly collapsed and died. Doctors who checked the body of Mahalakshmi could not nail the cause of death.
Meanwhile, the child's father Kumar, a construction worker, who had just visited the child two days ago, suspected foul play and demanded an autopsy.
“The post mortem revealed that the child was choked to death. Following the confirmation from doctors, we took Meenakshi into custody and interrogated her,“ the police said.
During the questioning, Meenakshi confessed to murdering the child as she was in a relationship with her neighbour, Surya, and was planning on marrying him soon.