Staff Reporter
Margao
Police have ruled out black magic as a motive in the murder of a four-year-old girl at Usgao, stating that the crime was driven by personal enmity between the accused and the victimâs mother. The accused couple, Pooja Alhat and Babasaheb Alhat, has been arrested and remanded to seven-day
police custody.
âAll forensic evidence and the post-mortem report have categorically ruled out any connection to black magic,â said Superintendent of Police Tikam Singh Verma while addressing the
media on Friday.
Verma said that Pooja and the childâs mother had past disputes, which led to the murder as an act of revenge. âOn March 5, the accused woman lured the girl into the house by offering chocolates,â he said.
The SP said that Babasaheb first attempted to drown the girl in a bucket of water, with traces of water found during the post-mortem. The duo then suffocated the child before burying her
inside their house.
The post-mortem report confirmed the cause of death as âasphyxia as a result of simultaneous compression of the head, nostrils, and mouth using blunt force, in a child having few signs of immersion in water.â
Police said that CCTV footage from the vicinity confirmed that the child was not taken away from the locality. During interrogation, the accused confessed, leading to the exhumation of the body from inside their house.
Sections 103 (1) and 3 (5) have been added to the case. The childâs body was identified by the mother and later handed over to the family for final rites.
