RAJBIRAJ, APRIL 22

A woman who had murdered her infant daughter and dumped her body in the river fearing that her illicit affair would be exposed has been arrested.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rani Mandal of Saptari, Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality-7 had murdered her two-year-old daughter on the night of 27 July 2016. As per police sources, the woman had developed illicit relationship with a man from her own village after her husband had left for foreign employment.

Police had captured her yesterday upon getting a tip-off that she was hiding in a house in Rajgadh Rural Municipality-5.

According to police, Rani had murdered her daughter in the dark and then dumped her body in the flooded Khando River. Police further said the woman in extra-marital relation, upon hearing that her husband was returning home, was worried that her illicit affairs would be exposed through her daughter and acted out of fear to commit the murder of her own daughter.

The woman had gone out of contact after a case was filed against her over the murder after her husband filed an FIR against her. Hearing the case, the court had handed down in absentia 20-year prison sentence to Rani about three years ago.

'The arrested mother has pleaded guilty. She has been sent to Rajbiraj prison to serve her jail term after she was produced at the court,' said DSP Mahav Prasad Kafle.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 23, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.