Drowning of children by woman in Bhadohi: 4 bodies recovered, one missing

Rajeev Dikshit | TNN | Updated: Apr 13, 2020, 17:05 IST

Manju booked in murder case for drowning 5 children

VARANASI: In Sunday morning’s sensational case of drowning five children in Ganga river by a woman in UP's Bhadohi district, police have recovered four bodies till Monday afternoon while the search for their 3-year-old sibling continued at Jahagirabad village under Gopiganj police station.
SP Bhadohi RB Singh said that the woman, who swam to safety after jumping into the river with five children on Sunday, has been booked in a murder case. He said that the family had no financial problem and Manju in her statement given to police admitted that due to restrained relations with husband Mridul Yadav alias Munna, who used to assault her and children, she initiated the harsh step.
Manju (36) of Jahagirabad had reached near the bank of river Ganga on Sunday morning with children - Shiv Shankar (6), Keshav (3), Aarti (11), Saraswati (7) and Mateshwari (5). She asked all of them to jump into the river with her. The children followed the instruction of their mother. However, after becoming sure that they all have drowned she swam out and sat on the bank.
Some villagers, who reached the river bank after sometime sought reason from her for sitting there when she divulged to have drowned her children. Alarmed over it, locals alerted police. After reaching the spot Gopiganj cops immediately engaged local divers to search the missing children.
SP Bhadohi said that after exercising hard the divers had fished out the bodies of Aarti and Saraswati till Sunday night while bodies of Mateshwari and Shiv were searched on Monday morning. Search for the body of Keshav continued, he added.
The SP said that when cops interrogated Manju during the initial investigation she said that her husband used to thrash her and also children. Mridul had gone somewhere two days ago, he said, adding, the woman in her statement stated that after having dinner with children on Saturday they also watched television till late night. When the reporters entered her house after the incident, cooked food items were also found.
Police said that Mridul was employed at a local business firm as a salesman and the family had not any financial problem. Mridul’s father was a government school primary teacher.