Mom Who Claimed Her Daughter Died During Chain Snatching Incident Gets Arrested For Drowning Infant

An Indian mother, who claimed her 10-month-old baby girl died after slipping off her hands and falling into a water tank during a chain-snatching incident, has been arrested for murdering her infant daughter.

The mother, identified as Nadigoti Prasanna, initially said that she was walking on the road near Ambedkar Nagar Colony of Jangaon district on Monday, Aug. 1, when an unidentified person approached her, brandishing a knife.

Prasanna told the villagers that the person attempted to snatch her gold chain off her neck and she retaliated.

She said her daughter slipped off her hands and fell into an irrigation water tank when she was fighting the chain snatcher.

The infant was found unresponsive in the tank and rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The hospital authorities alerted the police about the child’s mysterious death and accordingly an investigation was initiated, reports said.

Prasanna repeated the same story when investigators asked her to explain the incident. However, officials did not find the mother’s story convincing enough and suspected foul play.

During a detailed interrogation, Prasanna admitted to killing her daughter by throwing her into the water tank.

The accused mother told the investigators that she got married four years ago and has two children.

Her 3-year-old son recently underwent an open heart surgery at a cost of more than 8 lakhs ($10,000 approx.).

The now-deceased infant also had serious health issues. The baby girl could not move or crawl, reports said.

Prasanna told the police that she could not bear to see her two children suffering from illness and that she committed the crime to put an end to the misery that she would have to see for the rest of her life.

The accused mother was arrested and remanded, police said. A further probe is underway.

A similar incident was reported in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India, where a mother killed her six children by hurling them one after the other into a well, seemingly in retaliation after her husband's family members mercilessly beat her.

The tragic incident reportedly happened at Kharavali village in Mahad taluka, around 100 kilometers from Mumbai, on Monday afternoon, May 30. The children who drowned in the well were aged between 18 months and 10 years of age.