Published Sep 30, 2026 | 5:22 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 30, 2026 | 5:31 PM
Nivedya allegedly killed the children after she felt that they would be an obstacle to her future life.
Synopsis: Police said a five-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother, who were found dead inside a water tank at their home in Kozhinjampara, Palakkad, on Tuesday, were murdered by their mother, Nivedya. She initially told police that she found the children in the tank after going to look for them, but later confessed to the killings during interrogation.
A five-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother, who were found dead inside a water tank at their home in Kozhinjampara, Palakkad, Keralam, on Tuesday, 29 September, were murdered by their mother, police said.
The deceased were identified as Jennifer Juliet and Robin Christopher, children of John Kumar, a native of Kozhinjampara, and Nivedya.
Nivedya allegedly killed the children after she felt that they would be an obstacle to her future life. Police suspect she first drowned her daughter while she was bathing and then killed her son.
Nivedya initially told the police that she was in front of the house and went looking for the children after she did not hear them for some time. She said she found both children motionless inside the bathroom tank and rushed them to hospital, where they were declared dead. Kozhinjampara police subsequently registered a case of unnatural death and began an inquiry.
A detailed examination of the circumstances and subsequent interrogation led investigators to conclude that the deaths were not accidental. Nivedya eventually admitted to killing the children, police said.
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The case came under suspicion from the outset. Police found it difficult to accept Nivedya’s account that both children had accidentally fallen into the small cement water tank in the bathroom, especially how the five-year-old could have ended up in the tank and failed to save herself.
Moreover, Nivedya was the only adult present at the house when the incident occurred. Her husband, John Kumar, a firewood cutter, was away at work. The family had shifted to the rented house only two months earlier.
Kumar had earlier expressed suspicion over the deaths. Relatives reportedly told police that Nivedya had confessed to the crime.
She is now in custody, and police said they would soon record her arrest.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
