Kochi newborn strangled and thrown from balcony, woman was in relationship with Thrissur youth

Kochi: The police have arrested a 23-year-old woman for murdering her newborn by flinging the baby down from the fifth floor of a flat at Vidya Nagar in Panampilly Nagar here. A postmortem examination had revealed the baby was killed, and the police registered a murder case against the woman. The preliminary autopsy report said head injuries killed the infant.

The police informed the media that woman's identity cannot be revealed since she was a rape survivor. The woman was allegedly in a relationship with her social media friend based in Thrissur. The probe team is planning to seek judicial custody of the woman after she recovers.  She was shifted to the Ernakulam General Hospital for treatment.

The case
The young woman reportedly told investigators that she had given birth in the flat's bathroom around 5 am on Friday, May 3. In the confession given to the police, the woman said she stuffed a cloth in the newborn's mouth and strangled the child using a shawl. Though she initially planned to abandon the body some-place, she threw the infant down to the road from the fifth-floor balcony when her mother knocked at the door. The woman also contemplated committing suicide at the point.

Her parents, though living in the same flat, were unaware of the woman's pregnancy and her early morning delivery. The driver of a school bus found the infant's body, wrapped in the plastic cover of an online shopping platform, on the road around 8.15 am. He alerted the police who soon arrived at the scene. People's representatives also reached the spot.

The investigation
Investigators who checked the images from the CCTV installed at the flat found a bundle falling. Meanwhile, the police started inspecting houses with balconies overlooking the road and questioning the residents. They scanned the barcode found on the courier cover, and found the fifth-floor address to which the consignment was delivered.

A team, headed by Kochi City Police Commissioner S Shyamsunder, Deputy Commissioner KS Sudarshan, and Assistant Commissioner P Rajkumar, questioned the woman and her parents. The police said the woman confessed to the crime during interrogation. She was shifted to the hospital after recording her arrest. The commissioner requested the media not to identify the woman since she was a rape survivor.

The relationship
The woman had been studying in a neighbouring state and joined a city college a month ago. Investigators have received information that she was in a relationship with a Thrissur youth, who she had met on social media. She did not make any statement against the man. Investigators said a case will be registered against him only if the statement is against him.