In a tale of extreme parental cruelty, an alcoholic father smothered his two-year-old ailing son and threw his body into the Munak canal in outer Delhi, just three days after he abandoned his two minor daughters.
The shocking revelation came when police arrested the man, Bunty Gupta, 35, on Saturday from Samaypur Badli area in west Delhi.
A senior police officer said that Bunty dumped his son Vinod (name changed) into the Munak canal on August 18 after murdering him. Police found the toddler’s body on the same day but could not identify him.
“Bunty has confessed to the murder of his son. Bunty is an alcoholic and he had an argument with his wife Rosy Gupta six months ago over his drinking habit. After the fight, his wife took Vinod and eloped with her paramour. Two months later she came back and left Vinod with Bunty. After keeping his son for a few months Bunty smothered him to death on August 18 and dumped his body into the Munak canal,” said the officer.
“We will ask for the police custody of Bunty to find out more about the case and the whereabouts of Rosy. Whether he killed his wife or not is not clear right now and is part of the investigation,” said the officer.
Police said that Bunty’s two minor daughters who were found abandoned and starving in their house, with maggot infestations in their heads, are being given treatment and food. Once they are cured, they will be handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
Police said that they got a tip-off that Bunty, who worked in a factory near his house in Samaypur Badli, was hiding somewhere in the slums of Bawana Industrial area. A police team raided the area and apprehended him.
“When the police showed him the boy’s picture, he refused to acknowledge that it was his son. But after a while he broke down and confessed that he had smothered Vinod and dumped his body in Munak canal,” the officer said.
Police have added more sections to the FIR that was lodged against the accused parent at Samaypur Badli Police Station after the two girls, aged eight and three were found abandoned. “Along with Section 317 (Exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years of age, by parent or person having custody of it) under Juvenile Justice Act, we added Section 302 (Punishment for murder) and 201(Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of IPC against him,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee has demanded a thorough probe into the shocking incident. She said, “If this is the fate of girl children under the nose of the Modi Government at the Centre and the Kejriwal Government in Delhi, what would be the fate of girls and women elsewhere in the country.”