A woman allegedly killed her eight-year-old son for having seen her with a neighbour she was in an illegitimate physical relationship with, police said on Wednesday.
Four persons including the woman and her partner have been arrested for the child's murder, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida) Anil Kumar Yadav said.
The woman has been identified as Bhuri, 45, and her partner as Ompal Singh, 53, who works as a keyman in the Railways and lived in Greater Noida. The child was first poisoned by the mother and later dumped in a water body in Sambhal district, police said.
The police said they have also arrested Manak - Bhuri's brother-in-law and the child's uncle - who helped them in dumping the body. The father-in-law of the child's step-sister Amar Singh was also arrested for his involvement in hiding the boy's body.
The child's father Kalyan, unaware of his wife's illicit relationship, had lodged a missing person's complaint after the boy's disappearance on July 2, police said. The FIR was lodged three days later on July 5 at the local Badalpur Police Station, they said.
On July 7, the body of the child was found in Sambhal district, and the post-mortem report showed "drowning" as the cause of his death, DCP Yadav said. The boy's father informed the police that Sambhal was his native place, the officer said.
"During the probe it came to light that the boy's mother Bhuri, the main accused in this case, had an illegitimate relationship with Ompal Singh. On the night of June 28, the child had seen Bhuri and Ompal together," Mr Yadav said.
"The mother and her partner decided to eliminate the child, fearing he would reveal their relationship to others which would result in shame for them among their families and community," the officer said.
"The child had gone missing on July 2 and the family lodged a missing person's complaint only on July 5. Bhuri knew his whereabouts. She knew the boy had gone to the house of his married sister, from Kalyan's first marriage," he said.
"On July 6, she went to the daughter's home, took the boy with her and gave him sulphas poison," he added.
Amar Singh, who did not want to get into any legal trouble due to the child's attempted murder in his house, contacted Manak to get rid of the boy, Brahmpal Singh, in-charge of Badalpur Police Station told PTI.
Manak, the uncle of the boy, agreed to help as he was also involved in an illegitimate relationship with Bhuri in the past, the police officer added.
Amar Singh and Manak took the child to Sambhal and dumped him in a water body, where he died, DCP Yadav said.
All four accused admitted to hatching the conspiracy on being questioned, police said, adding that Ompal and Bhuri are the primary planners.
The FIR was first lodged under IPC Section 363 (missing person) and later sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (Act done by several people with common intention) and 506 (criminal intimidation) were added to the case, police said.
The accused were produced in a local court on Wednesday from where they were sent to judicial custody, police added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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