Aluva: A three-year-old girl who went missing from Aluva while travelling with her mother on Monday was found dead in the Chalakudy River in the early hours of Tuesday. A scuba team recovered her body from the river around 2.30 am on Tuesday after an eight-hour-long search.

Police took the child's mother into custody on Monday itself, as she had picked up her daughter from Anganwadi around 4 pm. The Chengamanad Police stated that the mother is suffering from mental health issues. Her arrest will be formally recorded, and charges, including murder, will be slapped against her. Manorama News reported that the mother has confessed to murdering her child.

The child’s body has been shifted to Aluva Government Taluk Hospital for further procedures.

The missing case
The three-year-old girl went missing while her mother was taking her to the woman’s house at Kurumassery near Moozhikulam from Thiruvankulam. The missing case was reported at the Puthencruz Police Station by 7.30 pm. by the girl’s paternal family.

Police searched for the girl in various locations along the route, but the focus of the search shifted to Moozhikulam near Angamaly by 11 pm, apparently based on the mother’s statement that she had abandoned the child somewhere in that area. Initially, the woman told police that her daughter went missing after they boarded a bus from Aluva. Later, she claimed that the child went missing from Moozhikulam bridge. Following this, police and the scuba team began a search in the river.

Angamaly MLA Roji M John told the media that CCTV footage confirmed that the woman had arrived at Moozhikulam with the girl after 7 pm. However, the child was not with her when she reached her house. The woman reportedly gave contradicting statements to her family about the girl's whereabouts, which aroused their suspicion. The girl’s paternal family reported the missing case to the police in their locality after discovering that the child was not with her mother.

The child's mother had taken her to Moozhikulam from the Anganwadi pre-school near their house in Thiruvankulam.

Police, Fire and Rescue Services personnel, and scuba divers launched a search operation near the Moozhikulam bridge across a tributary of the Chalakudy River, despite difficulties caused by rain. Local residents also joined the search mission.