Haryana woman nabbed for killing 4 children, police reveal disturbing motive

Police officers in Haryana were left shocked when they found a woman in her early 30s reportedly killing three minor girls, all related to her, because she disliked them “for being beautiful”. The investigators also revealed that the accused woman even murdered her three-year-old son to avoid suspicion.

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The case’s chilling details came to the fore when Panipat police cracked the case of death of a six-year-old girl on Monday (December 1), where the accused, Poonam, allegedly followed the same method of execution – drowning the victim in water-filled containers.

Appears to be 'psychopath': Cops

Panipat Superintendent of Police Bhupender Singh said the accused woman appears to be a “psychopath” and set her eyes on her niece in the latest case after she had attended a wedding with her family at a village in Panipat district of the state. Two of her previous girl victims, aged six and nine, were also related to her. Till the latest incident of death, the families of the victims did not suspect the deaths and even performed their final rites.

The case that exposed Poonam

On Monday, six-year-old Vidhi went missing during the wedding ceremony in Naultha village. Later, her body was found by the family members in a storeroom on the house’s first floor, with her head drowned in a water-filled plastic tub and her feet lying outside. The police were informed, and soon a team probed the case from various angles and arrested Poonam on Wednesday (December 3) on charges of murdering the child.

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It was alleged that Poonam took Vidhi to the room and committed the crime after the guests left the house. She then locked the door from outside and came down, the police said.

Crimes between 2023 and 2025

When Poonam was interrogated, she revealed the previous murders, the SP said. He told reporters that she allegedly murdered her son Shubham in Bhawar in 2023 and another girl, her cousin’s six-year-old daughter, in Sewah in August this year. She also allegedly killed her sister-in-law’s nine-year-old daughter because of her bizarre ‘beauty complex’ reasoning, or lack of it, in 2023. It was reportedly the first in a series of crimes.

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According to another report, Poonam had allegedly targeted Vidhi in 2021, when she was only two. She poured boiling tea on her face, an incident that the child’s family was convinced was an accident. Vidhi had survived that attack. Her father Sandeep told NDTV that he had always suspected her and wanted a death sentence for her.

Motive behind crimes

What has been her motive to kill the children? According to SP Singh, the accused told the police that she had hateful feelings for beautiful children. He also quoted her as saying that she would become jealous whenever she saw a pretty girl, thinking that she would become more beautiful than her when she grows up ("usko chidd machti hai kahi bade hokar issay sundar na ban jaye")

The police officer also said that Poonam, who belongs to Haryana's Sewah village and was married in Bhawar village in 2019, indulged in the crime after her marriage. Calling her a “psycho type”, he said she is not very educated.

The police ruled out any child-sacrifice angle behind the killings.

(With agency inputs)