Guj woman kills child to hide illicit relationship; arrested

A 30-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly killing her one-and-half-month old son and throwing the body into a canal, police said Monday.

The incident happened in neighbouring Kaira district and the body of the child was found on May 23, an official said.

A probe at several hospitals in the vicinity as well as birth registers of civic bodies in the region led the police to accused Asha Rathod who had given birth recently at Nadiad civil hospital, said the official.

Kathlal police station official DK Raol said Rathod was married in 2009 and had two children, but was fighting a court case with her husband and was staying separately since 2015.

"When police reached the accused's house to find out the whereabouts of her son, she at first said he was undergoing treatment at a hospital. However she confessed after sustained questioning," he said.

"She has told us that the infant was born out of a relationship she had with another man. To avoid censure from society and kin, she claims to have throttled the child and dumped his body in the canal," he said.

She has been charged with murder and remanded in police custody, Raol said.