Palakkad: Shoranur Police arrested a woman on charges of strangulating her one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl to death on Monday. The accused has been identified as Shilpa, 30, a resident of Kottayam.

The post-mortem report that came out on Monday confirmed that the child was choked to death. According to the police, the reason for the murder is assumed to be a dispute between Shilpa and her former life partner Ajmal. Suspecting unusual circumstances in the death on Saturday, the police questioned Shilpa multiple times, but released her and waited for the post-mortem report.

The police said that Shilpa and Ajmal lived together for quite some time, but have been living separately for the past six months. On Saturday early morning at 3.18 am, Shilpa reportedly sent WhatsApp messages to Ajmal mentioning that she killed their daughter and apologised for the same to Ajmal, which he did not take seriously.

On Saturday around 9.30 am, Shilpa visited a movie theatre near Shoranur railway station where Ajmal has been working as a tea stall keeper. Ajmal noticed that the baby was not crying or moving at all. He immediately contacted Shoranur Police suspecting a foul play. The police asked the couple to bring the baby to the Shoranur government hospital. The medical officer after checking the baby confirmed that the baby had been dead for a long time before she was brought to the hospital.

The police took the child’s mother into custody and interrogated her after becoming suspicious about the incident. However, as there were no injuries, wounds or deep marks on the child’s baby, the police later released Shilpa assuming that the baby died of cardiac arrest. At the same time, they waited for the post-mortem report and kept Shilpa under their surveillance.

“We have now got information that Shilpa came to Shoranur from Alappuzha in a rented car. We understand that the baby must have lost her life even before she boarded the car from Alappuzha which is around five hours away from Shoranur. We are searching for the car and its driver. A friend of Ajmal who saw Shilpa coming out of the car noticed that the car driver fled the scene soon after pulling out Shilpa’s luggage bag. We suspect the driver also has a role in the incident,” said a senior official from the Shoranur police station.

The officer added that the reason for the murder needs to be interrogated. They are also investigating whether Shilpa is a drug addict.