Police probe on into suspected case of female infanticide

Police have launched investigations into the death of a three-day-old girl in Warangal rural district following a complaint from villagers that she was allegedly killed by her grandfather in a case of female infanticide.

According to preliminary investigation they were yet to come to any conclusion and a case under section 174 (suspicious death) of the Criminal Procedure Code has been registered, police said.

The incident happened at Yerrakuntathanda near Kesavapur village in the district.

After villagers raised suspicions about the death, district child protection officer G Mahender Reddy visited the village.

Reddy told PTI a woman gave birth to a girl, her second, on September 4 at the Community Health Centre (CHC).

The baby weighed 2.4 kg at birth and was born healthy, Reddy said, adding on September 5 the mother and child were discharged from the Centre. However, on September 7, the baby died under suspicious circumstances.

According to Reddy, villagers have alleged that the babys grandfather, who was expecting a grandson, killed her on September 7 either by feeding grain or by strangulation and later buried the body in his agriculture field.

On being questioned, family members told villagers that the baby had been suffering from ill-health and died, Reddy said.

The girls grandfather has termed as false the allegations against him and the family too did not level such charges. Efforts are on to exhume the body and to conduct autopsy, he said.

Police said the cause of death will be known after post-mortem and they will proceed further as per law.