Kannur: A four-month-old baby girl was found dead in a well on the premises of a rented quarters occupied by migrant workers at Pappinissery here on Monday. According to police, the deceased was the daughter of a Tamil Nadu couple Muthu and Akkallu who migrated to Kerala for livlihood.

In a complaint to the Valappattanam police, the baby’s parents claimed that they, along with the daughters of a relative, went to sleep in the central hall of their residence around 9.30 pm on Monday. At around 11 pm, the child's mother found the baby missing and woke her husband.

Migrant workers, who heard the mother’s cries, rushed to the couple’s rented room and immediately launched a search. They later found the child’s body inside the well.

Speaking to Manorama News, migrant workers said they found the baby in the well around 11 pm. Some of them climbed down and retrieved the child, who was lying motionless. Though she was rushed to a nearby hospital, doctors declared her dead.

The parents informed the police about the incident around 4 am on Tuesday. An FIR was registered under Section 194(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which pertains to investigating a death under suspicious circumstances.

The infant's body was shifted to Kannur District Hospital for an autopsy. Manorama News reported that police took the parents into custody for a detailed interrogation.

In a similar incident earlier this year, a two-year-old girl who was sleeping with her parents went missing from her house at Balaramapuram, in Thiruvananthapuram district. She was later found dead in a well near their home. The child's maternal uncle, who lived in the same house, was arrested after allegedly confessing to the crime.