Kochi: A man who allegedly drowned a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, Nora Maria, in a bucket filled with water in a hotel room at Kaloor here has been remanded by a local court here.
The police will file an application on Friday to get the custody of Benoy John D'cruz of Palluruthy for further questioning.
The accused told the police that he resorted to the extreme step of murder to wreak vengeance on Nora's grandmother Sipsi, who was his lover. The preliminary investigation revealed that Sipsi had no role in the crime though she was involved in many criminal cases in the past, the police stated.
City Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju said that the police would inquire into the allegation that Sipsi had used Nora and her five-year-old brother Lenin as a shield for her drug trafficking operations.
The police have registered a case against her under the Juveniles Justice Act.
The police would conduct a detailed probe into her role in the backdrop of the allegations raised by Diksi, the mother of the dead child, against her husband Sajeevan. Diksi alleged that her husband had threatened that her children would be killed if she tried to come back to Kerala from abroad.
According to Diksi, she shifted residence to her house in Karukutty from her husband's house at Kodussery in Parakkadavu one-and-a-half years ago after D'Cruz attacked her physically.
She alleged that even though D'cruz had attacked her in front of Sajeevan, the latter did not do anything. It was after this episode that she decided to live separately from her husband.
CWC hands over one child to kin
Meanwhile, Lenin was handed over to his mother's relatives by the Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee.
CWC president Bitti K Joseph, however, denied the allegation that the organisation did not take timely steps to hand over the children to the mother's relatives even after complaints were filed against the grandmother for improper maintenance of children.
