Date:02/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/02/stories/2007050217480100.htm

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Two babies found dead

Staff Reporter

Villagers beat up mother, grandmother

HYDERABAD: Mystery shrouds the death of two babies — Gayatri and Gouthami — found dead under suspicious circumstances on Tuesday morning in their house at K.V. Thanda in Ibrahimpatnam, 25 km from here.

Tension prevailed in the village as irate villagers beat up Sharada, mother of the girls, and Kamli, their grandmother, alleging they were responsible for the deaths. Police rushed to the village to rescue the two women.

A case of suspicious deaths has been registered.

The father of the children, K. Chander alleged that his wife might have strangled the girls to death. Forensic experts, who performed the autopsy, are yet to confirm the cause of death.

Some marks found around the throats of the babies, aged 18 months and three months, has raised suspicions.

"The possibility of their being poisoned to death is also being probed," Ibrahimpatnam Sub-Inspector Laxmikanth Reddy said.

Chander, an autorickshaw driver, shifted to Osmanghad after marriage.

Because of his suspicion, there was tension between the couple.