The Hindu : National : Woman burns 7-month-old grandchild in tandoor

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Saturday, Jun 25, 2011
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National

Woman burns 7-month-old grandchild in tandoor

Staff Reporter

CHANDIGARH: In a ghastly murder, a seven-month-old girl child was allegedly asphyxiated and burnt in a tandoor by her 50-year-old grandmother in Sirsa, 240 km from here.

Gurdip, father of the girl and a resident of Bajigar Thed basti in Lehranwali village, filed a police complaint after the family failed to locate the little girl, Pooja, who disappeared mysteriously from her parents' bed while they were asleep on June 20. Later her badly burnt body was found near her home.

Judicial custody

The police arrested Surji devi, Gurdip's mother, on Thursday and produced her in court. She has been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.

During interrogation, Surji Devi told the police that she killed Pooja by stuffing an onion in her mouth and later burnt her body in the tandoor. She then hid the body at her home, and later disposed of it.

The police said Surji murdered the child to implicate her daughter Manjit's husband, Tarsem, and his family members due to a matrimonial dispute between the couple. Manjit and her eight-month-old son had been staying with Surji.

Rania Station House Officer Jagdish Chander Joshi said that Surji first stuffed an onion into Pooja's mouth when her parents were sleeping and then lit the tandoor to burn the body. “She then put the half burnt body in an iron box before throwing it out in the evening,” Mr. Joshi said.

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