Published Oct 20, 2026 | 8:58 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 20, 2026 | 9:09 PM
The Pulikeezhu police have taken the child's mother, Manju (45), into custody.
Synopsis: The Pulikeezhu police in Keralam have taken Manju (45) into custody in connection with the murder of her three-year-old child, whose body was found buried in a marsh in Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta district, in August 2023. The case came to light after Manju and her partner, Shivan, quarrelled in Palakkad and accused each other of killing the child.
A quarrel between a woman and her male partner in Palakkad has cracked a murder case that had remained unsolved for nearly three years, after the body of a three-year-old child was found buried in a marsh at Pulikeezhu in Thiruvalla, Pathanamthitta district, on 12 August 2023.
The Pulikeezhu police have taken the child’s mother, Manju (45), into custody. According to her statement, her partner, Shivan, killed the child by suffocating it because it was crying. Police have launched a search for Shivan and his brother, Shakthi, who are accused of helping dispose of the body.
The murder came to light after Manju and Shivan reportedly quarrelled in Palakkad recently and accused each other of killing the child. Local residents alerted the Scheduled Caste promoter in the area, who informed the police.
According to the police, the child was killed on the veranda of a shop near the KSRTC junction in Changanassery. Shivan allegedly covered the child’s nose and mouth and strangled it. He then called his brother, and the two allegedly took the body to Pulikeezhu, in Pathanamthitta district, and buried it in a pit they had dug in a marshy area.
The child’s body was discovered by locals near St Mary’s Orthodox Church after a foul smell rose from the spot. The remains were several days old, and the hands and feet were missing.
The discovery triggered a murder investigation, but the circumstances of the child’s death remained unclear.
(Edited by Dese Gowda with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
