NAVI MUMBAI: The woman accused of throwing her six children into a well in Kharvali village, Mahad, was beaten up and thrown out of her home by her husband a day earlier on Sunday evening over a domestic dispute.
Humiliated, Runa Sahani (30), along with her six children, stayed in another room offered by the house owner in Sheltoli village. Her kids never attended school due to their poor financial situation.
A three-member Raigad police team is probing the murder. A Mahad court on Tuesday remanded the woman to police custody till June 4.
The Sahani family hails from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, and has lived in Mahad for over a decade. Runa’s husband, Chikhru, is a daily wage worker. The family had relocated to Sheltoli two years ago. The deceased children are: Radha (1), Shivraj (3), Vidya (5), Reshma (6), Karishma (8) and Roshni (10).
“The woman had claimed before my father Mahadev Shirke that she had thrown her six children into the well. My father did not believe her but met the police to reach out to her husband. Upon their return to the well, the elder girl’s body was found floating in the well,” said Mukesh Shirke, whose father owns the farm land with the well.
“The bodies were retrieved from five feet of sludge inside the well. Runa had jumped into the well with two of her kids in her arms while four others had either been thrown in or had jumped,” said SP Ashok Dudhe.
Cops said there was no mark on the bodies to indicate the kids had been tied.
