A 30-year-old homemaker killed her differently-abled daughter on Wednesday in East Midnapore’s Khejuri by slitting the five-year-old's throat with a kitchen knife.
Bystanders at the Vidyapeeth Minimarket area heard Sagarika Patra screaming that she had killed her daughter as she could not bear to hear her child crying for food. Sagarika lived alone with her daughter after informally separating from her husband last year. They lived in an enclosed room next to a vegetable stall owned by her husband, Biswajit, in the mini market area. Sources familiar with the couple said Biswajit had stopped living there and had even stopped sending money following last year's lockdown.
"The poor mother had to kill her own daughter because the girl would cry out for food all day. Even a few weeks ago Sagarika was asking friends and neighbours for help, but she had stopped doing that recently," said a source.
Following Sagarika's cries, residents of the market area kept her in their watch till police arrived and arrested her.
"Prima facie it seems this woman had been deprived and abused. We have launched a search for the absconding husband, Biswajit," said officer-in-charge Khejuri, Krishnendu Pradhan.
"This was Biswajit's second marriage. After noticing their troubles last year, we tried and failed to exhort Biswajit to tend to his responsibilities," said Janka panchayat pradhan Samar Sankar Mondal.