Woman throws daughter, 3, into well, then kills self

Madurai: A 27-year-old woman killed her three-year-old daughter by throwing her into a 50-foot-deep well before hanging herself at her maternal home in Sivarakottai village near Thirumangalam on Saturday.The deceased were identified as Kavitha and her toddler daughter, Sanjitha.According to the police, Kavitha had moved back to her mother’s house with her two children three months ago following a dispute with her husband, Kaliappan, a daily wage laborer from Erichanatham in Virudhunagar district. .The incident came to light when neighbours noticed the house locked from the inside for an unusually long period. Getting no response to repeated knocks, they peered through a window and found Kavitha hanging from the ceiling. They immediately alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and broke open the door.Upon realizing that the three-year-old was missing, police launched a search in the vicinity and eventually recovered Sanjitha’s body from a nearby well.Kavitha’s 10-year-old son, Shankar, had a narrow escape as he had gone out to a local shop with his friends at the time of the incident.Preliminary investigation revealed that Kaliappan had extramarital affairs with a woman named Muthulakshmi and eloped with her three months back. Over this frustration she might take that extreme step.Police recovered the bodies and sent them to the Virudhunagar government hospital for autopsy. A case has been registered by Kallikudi police for further investigation.