Baby dies in sleep, smothering suspected

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An eight-month-old baby girl died allegedly at the hands of her mother while sleeping. Police have identified the infant as Supriya, daughter of Chandraprabha (28) of Kadakkavoor. Chandraprabha has been admitted to a government hospital at Chirayinkeezh after she showed symptoms of physical distress.
According to Kadakkavoor sub-inspector J Vijayarajan, police received a call from Chandraprabha around 7.30am on Friday seeking help to take her baby to hospital.She said that she was living in a rented house at Keezhattingal near Kadakkavoor with her baby after getting estranged from her live-in partner, Sanal. On waking up in the morning she noticed that the baby was lying motionless and feared that something was wrong.
Police rushed to her home and took the baby to the Chirayinkeezh hospital. "But the doctors declared the baby dead on arrival and said that preliminary examination indicated that the child was smothered to death," said the inspector. Following this, Chandran, the father of Chandraprabha revealed that she was suffering from mental illness and was under medication. She might have rolled over the baby during her pill-induced sleep unknowingly, eventually killing the baby.
Chandraprabha was once married and post her divorce, was living with Sanal, an NRI working in a middle east country. Recently, they got separated following personal disputes and ever since Chandraprabha was living alone with the baby.
"There were no visible marks on the baby's body. More things can be known only from the postmortem report," he said. The body was handed over to Sanal after autopsy.