Kolkata, March 7 – A man has been arrested for allegedly strangling his only son, who had a disability, to death and burying him in Burdwan, West Bengal, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place in Memari, in the East Burdwan district.
The accused, identified as Sonalal Mandi, was arrested on Friday night.
Mandi lives in Mandalgram, under the Memari police station area. The tragic incident has caused panic in the area.
According to police, his son, Surya Mandi, was blind from birth and was unable to move his hands and feet normally. Since the child had a disability, the family was struggling to care for him.
Surya's mother left him and his father a few months after his birth. After that, he was cared for by his maternal grandmother for a few days. But after his maternal grandmother's death, the responsibility of the child fell on his paternal grandmother. Police said that since then, the father, Sonalal Mandi, began to see the child as a burden.
Police learned from local residents that he initially tried to send his son to an orphanage. When that did not work, he finally planned to kill him.
"Last Wednesday, Sonalal took his son to the banks of Kaldighi (lake) in the Barapalashan area of Memari. He strangled his son to death and buried him. The next morning, local residents saw the body of the child lying on the bank of the water body, as water from the lake washed away the grave," said a senior officer of the East Burdwan district police.
Soon, locals informed the Memari police station.
The police reached the spot, recovered the body, and sent it to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital for an autopsy.
During the investigation, the police detained Sonalal Mandi and interrogated him. The accused confessed to the murder and was subsequently arrested.
The police have registered a case against Mandi.