Kerala police arrest mother after two children found dead in water tank

Police in Palakkad have arrested the mother of two children who were found dead in a water tank at their rented home near Kozhinjampara. Nivedya, 33, was arrested on murder charges after police said she admitted during questioning to killing her children, Jennifer Juliet, five, and Robin Christopher, three. She was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in judicial custody.

The children were found in a concrete tank in the bathroom of the family’s rented house at Koorankad on Tuesday. The incident was initially treated as an accident. Nivedya had told police that the children were playing while she worked in the kitchen and that she searched for them after not hearing them for some time.

They were taken to Government District Hospital in Palakkad but could not be saved. The tank was about three feet high and was used to store water. The family later questioned the accidental-drowning explanation.

A paternal aunt and other relatives asked how both children could have entered the tank at the same time. They also told police that the children knew how to swim and used to play in the tank. Police said Nivedya initially denied the allegations but later confessed.

According to her statement, she first drowned Jennifer while the child was bathing and then drowned Robin. Police said she referred during questioning to a desire to continue her studies and pursue modelling, and to family problems and frequent quarrels with her husband, John Kumar, a firewood cutter. Deputy Superintendent of Police M.

Sasidharan said the reasons for the killings and the circumstances would become clearer after further questioning. Post-mortem examinations found no other injuries or signs of physical assault. The report said both children died after water entered their lungs.

The family had moved into the rented house about two months earlier. Police said the investigation was continuing.