Six-year-old girl witnesses murder of mother by father

A six-year-old girl has turned out be the only witness to the murder of her mother by her father in Bangalore.

Police said Brijlatha, a computer professional, who had fled from her home in New Delhi and arrived in Bangalore along with her six-year-old daughter, was tracked down by her husband and murdered.

“The six-year-old daughter is the only witness to the murder”, a senior police official told reporters in Bangalore. The Chief Metropolitan magistrate in Bangalore has asked the police to record the statement of the child in a lower court.

Police said Brijlatha had escaped from New Delhi after eight years of traumatic relationship with her husband, whose name was given by the child as Ashish Malhotra.

A diploma holder in computer applications, Brijlatha arrived in Bangalore last Wednesday in the hope of securing a job and starting a new life. She and her child were put up in a house in Frazer Town in Bangalore.

The murder came to light when the child called up the police control room in Bangalore late on Friday night, pleading for help. The police arrived at their Frazer Town residence only to find Brijlatha’s dead body. “The child informed the police that her mother had been killed apparently by her father”, Inspector of Police, Bangalore, Srinidhi told reporters.

Brijlatha’s dead body has been sent for post-mortem and the child has been kept at Baalamandira, a Children’s Home.

Initial investigations have revealed that Brijlatha had married a man from New Delhi against her the wishes of her parents, who live in Canada. Inquiries with Brijlatha’s relatives in New Delhi had revealed that her husband used to torment her. “We are given to understand that he used to hit her a lot. The couple’s marriage was in trouble”, police said.

But, the police said they had also learnt that the name of Brijlatha’s husband was Mohammed Nazeer and not Ashish Malhothra as told by the child, giving a complex twist to the crime. “We are on the look-out for the husband”, police added