Mentally-ill girl dead, parents booked for murder

MADURAI

: A nine-year-old mentally-ill girl, who was allegedly fed

poison

by her parents two days ago, passed away at the Government Rajaji Hospital here on Saturday following which the case registered against her parents was altered to murder.


S Muneeswaran, 44, of Valaikulam in Srivilliputtur, and his wife Revanthi, 40, were engineering graduates who earlier worked in private firms in Chennai. Their daughter, Sadhana, who was mentally ill, was bedridden here and they had come back to Srivilliputtur to take care of her. Muneeswaran joined a private firm in Sivakasi but gradually became addicted to liquor. On October 1, the couple took their daughter to a temple in Nagapalayam.

Some people who came to the temple saw the couple forcing the child to drink a solution which she resisted. They informed the police on seeing the girl become unconscious. She was taken to the Srivilliputtur government hospital and later referred to the Government Rajaji Hospital.

Police registered a case based on a complaint from the village administrative officer, Lakshmi, and arrested Muneeswaran. He was produced before the JM 2 court in Srivilliputtur which remanded him to 15 days custody. The mother was allowed to go with the child to look after her in hospital. However, the girl passed away at the GRH on Saturday prompting the police to alter the case against the couple to murder. Police said that the mother would also be arrested after the funeral.