TN woman throws 6-year-old stepdaughter from third floor

THE WOMAN HIT THE CHILD WITH A STONE AND THEN HURLED HER FROM THE THIRD FLOOR OF THEIR APARTMENT BUILDING, POLICE SAID

CHENNAI: A 26-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly killing her stepdaughter by throwing the six-year-old from the third floor of their apartment building on Tuesday evening. The woman has confessed to the crime and has been booked for murder.

According to Selaiyur police station inspector Y Srinivasan, the accused, Suryakala, a resident of Sembakkam on the outskirts of Chennai, had married Parthiban in 2017 after his first wife died. The couple has a oneyear-old boy while Parthiban had a daughter, Raghavi, from his first marriage.

“On Tuesday evening, Parthiban was at a friend’s where he learnt that Raghavi had been missing for a while. He returned home to find a weeping Suryakala who claimed that the child had been missing since 2pm. After an hour-long search, he found his daughter’s body near the apartment building and assumed she must have fallen down,” said a police officer who reached the crime spot first.

However, police grew suspicious following Suryakala’s contradictory statements. Tuesday was a holiday due to Vijayadashami and Raghavi, a Class I student, was at home with her stepmother.

“Suryakala, who disliked Raghavi, first hit her on her forehead with a stone. When the girl collapsed, Suryakala took her to the third floor and hurled her down to make it look like an accidental death,” police added.

Police also retrieved the CCTV footage from a nearby apartment complex. In the footage, Suryakala can be seen moving outside