Five-year-old girl, sleeping at home, found dead in a well in Ramanathapuram

A five-year-old girl, who went missing while sleeping at her grandmother’s house in Ramanathapuram, was found dead in the well of a neighbour on Sunday morning.

The deceased, identified as the daughter of Karthikai Selvi and Balaganesh of Madurai, had accompanied her mother and younger sister to her maternal grand-parents’ house at M.S.K. Nagar in Ramanathapuram a few days ago. The family members – including Karthikai Selvi, her two daughters, her younger brother, his wife, and other relatives – were sleeping at the house on Saturday night. Around 5.30 a.m. on Sunday, Karthikai Selvi woke up and found that her elder daughter, who had been sleeping beside her, was missing.

The family searched the house, the homes of relatives, and nearby areas, but could not trace the child. Karthikai Selvi then lodged a complaint with the Ramanathapuram Bazaar police. The police, along with Fire and Rescue Services personnel, launched a search during which the child’s body was found in the neighbour’s well. The body was recovered and sent to the Ramanathapuram Government Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.

The police said the circumstances surrounding the death raised suspicion, as the well is at a considerable height, making it difficult to determine how she could have fallen into it. The Bazaar police have registered a case of suspicious death and started an investigation.

The grieving family has refused to accept the child’s body after postmortem, demanding a thorough investigation to establish the exact cause of death.