Man Drowns Toddler Upside Down In Bucket Over Fight With Lover

An Indian man was arrested for allegedly drowning his lover’s grandchild in a bucket of water inside a hotel room.

The incident happened in a hotel room in Kochi, Kerala, on Tuesday. The accused initially claimed the one-and-a-half-year-old girl child choked on milk, but an autopsy revealed that she died of drowning.

John Binoy D'Cruz, 28, and his 46-year-old partner checked into the hotel Saturday. D'Cruz’s partner had her two grandchildren with her when they occupied the hotel room, according to Deccan Herald.

The grandchildren were being taken care of by the paternal grandmother because of an ongoing dispute between the kids' parents over their custody.

Police said D'Cruz and the woman began fighting Monday night, after which the man allegedly took revenge by taking the girl child's life. He is accused of drowning her upside down in a bucket of water at around 2 a.m. Tuesday.

The woman claimed she was not in the hotel room at the time of the child’s death. When she returned, D'Cruz told her that the little girl choked on milk.

Employees at the hotel told local news that the grandmother rushed downstairs with the child early Tuesday morning.

“They checked in at 10 pm on Saturday and were here till the incident happened in the wee hours of Tuesday. She had held the kid tightly to her chest. The other kid, a four-year-old one, came walking along with them,” the employees said, as quoted by The News Minute.

Employees did not find anything suspicious when the grandmother claimed she needed to take the child to the hospital.

“The woman (grandmother) came downstairs panicking. When we asked what happened, she said that the child had breathlessness and that she was not breathing. her male friend was with her,” the staff added.

The child was rushed to the hospital and declared dead. An autopsy later revealed that the girl’s lungs were filled with water.

“Possibility of murder was suggested in the baby's postmortem report as the water was found in the girl's lungs. On Tuesday, Binoy confessed the crime to his mother,” a police official said, according to Onmanorama.

D'Cruz’s mother informed the cops, and the suspect was taken into custody Wednesday.

The events that led to the child's death are still being investigated.