Murder case against housewife for bid to kill 4-year-old nephew with toilet cleaning acid

Hyderabad: A housewife has been booked for an alleged bid to murder her four-year-old nephew by making him consume toilet-cleaning acid at Boduppal.On Tuesday night, Medipally police received a complaint from P Sandhya, 24, mother of four-year-old P Karthik. Sandhya lives in a joint family along with her in-laws. Sandhya's brother-in-law Jagadeesh, and his wife Manjula also live in the same house with their son.At 10pm on April 9, Manjula called Karthik to her room, offering chocolate. "She took Karthik into the kitchen, saying that chocolate would be given once he consumes juice, and poured toilet-cleaning acid in a glass and gave it to Karthik. I heard my son crying in pain after consuming acid and rushed there. Manjula tried lying to me, saying that the boy accidentally consumed acid, but Karthik told me that she had offered him the acid," Sandhya alleged in her police complaint.The boy was rushed to a local hospital and, after three days of treatment, he was discharged on April 12. Sandhya approached police with a complaint against Manjula on April 14, and a case was registered against Manjula under Section 109 (Attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Sandhya alleged that her sister-in-law Manjula used to frequently quarrel with her over trivial issues. Manjula also had on several occasions quarrelled with their father-in-law Santosh Kumar alleging that he shows more affection towards Karthik rather than her son."Despite our father-in-law clarifying that for him both the grandchildren were equal, Manjula continued to bear ill feelings and tried to harm my son multiple times," Sandhya alleged. Manjula once tried to smother Karthik, but the bid failed. She also once made the boy sit on the parapet without holding him, Sandhya added. "Manjula is absconding. We are trying to locate and arrest her," Medipally inspector Ch Shankaraiah said.