'Kalyani left playschool after having laddoo'; Police record mother Sandhya's arrest

KOCHI: Police registered the arrest of Sandhya, the mother of three-year-old girl Kalyani, found dead in a river in Chalakudy late Monday night. Sandhya will be interrogated in detail in the coming hours. Police doubt family dispute to be the reason behind Sandhya’s horrendous crime.

Varikoli native Subhash is Kalyani’s father. The initial postmortem report indicates that the three-year-old girl died due to drowning. The report also states that the child suffered a heart attack after water entered her lungs. Kalyani's body was handed over to her relatives after the postmortem. The body will be cremated at 4 pm on Monday.

Sandhya arrived at 3:30 pm on Monday to pick up Kalyani from her playschool. At that time, the child was having milk after getting up from sleep. Before leaving with her mother, Kalyani had a laddoo and bid her usual goodbye to teachers. The image of Kalyani leaving the school still haunts the faculty members of the playschool.

Sandhya showed no remorse despite admitting to abandoning the child near the Moozhikulam bridge. Subsequently, a search was conducted in the river and nearby areas by the police and fire force. Late into the night, the expert scuba divers recovered the body from the river near the bridge.

According to a few relatives, Sandhya had been suffering from mental imbalance.