Thrissur: Following evidence collection late Sunday, the Puthukkad Police have recorded the arrest of Bavin (25) and Aneesha (23) for the murder of their newborns under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 

Other charges include 91 (prevent a child from being born alive or to cause its death after birth), 93 (exposure and abandonment of a child), 94 (secret disposal of a dead body), 238(b) (causing disappearance of evidence),  3(5 (constructive liability) of BNS and 75 ( punishment for cruelty to children) of the Juvenile Justice Act. 

Police will exhume the burial sites on Monday to gather more evidence for forensic testing. Additionally, a postmortem examination and DNA testing are scheduled for the day. On Sunday, Dr A K Unmesh, head of the forensic medicine department at Thrissur Medical College, inspected and confirmed that the bones found in the bag brought by Bavin to the police station are of human origin.

Around 12.20 am on Sunday, Bavin walked into the Puthukkad police station carrying a bag of bones, claiming they were the remains of his children with his lover, Aneesha. Following an immediate probe into the matter, Bavin and Aneesha were taken into custody and questioned, after which the latter confessed to the crime.

According to Aneesha's statement, the first child was stillborn on November 6, 2021, and she buried the body in the yard of her house. She looked up YouTube videos on childbirth before her delivery. Eight months later, she exhumed the skeletal remains and handed them over to Bavin.

The second infant was murdered on August 29, 2024. According to police, Aneesha wrapped the baby’s body in cloth and took it to Bavin’s house the following day. Bavin then buried the body in a plantation behind his house. Later, he exhumed the burial site and kept the remains. After becoming estranged from Aneesha, Bavin confessed to the crime.

Aneesha’s neighbour, Girija, suspected that she was pregnant. Girija had seen Aneesha digging a small pit and burying something she had carried in a bucket. When confronted, Aneesha denied the allegations, claiming she was only suffering from hormonal imbalances and wore loose clothing to hide her pregnancies. She even filed a defamation case against Girija at the Vellikulangara police station, which was later settled.

Bavin and Aneesha had first connected through Facebook in 2020 and maintained a close relationship for over five years, though they were never married.