32-year-old Poonam commits horrific crime over 2 years
Pallavi Sharma
DHARAMSHALA:
A string of child deaths once dismissed as tragic accidents has unravelled into one of Haryana’s most chilling crime stories.
The police say 32-year-old Poonam, driven by a disturbing “beauty complex” and a calculated need to evade suspicion, murdered four children over two years — three young girls she allegedly envied for their looks and her own three-year-old son, whose death she staged to make the earlier murders look accidental.
What began as a routine investigation into a drowning at a wedding in Panipat has now exposed a deeply unsettling pattern of repeated killings carried out in plain sight.
A wedding, tub of water and the moment the mask slipped
The case broke open after six-year-old Vidhi was found drowned during a family wedding in Naultha village. The child had been missing only minutes before relatives discovered her body in a plastic tub on an upstairs storeroom.
Initially thought to be a freak accident, the d*eath raised police suspicion when early forensics and witness statements pointed to inconsistencies. When investigators questioned Poonam — Vidhi’s aunt, who was among the last to see the girl alive — her shifting version of events drew further scrutiny. Under sustained interrogation, the police say she confessed not only to drowning Vidhi but also to k*illing three other children whose d*eaths had previously been mourned as misfortunes.
According to investigators, Vidhi’s d*eath differed from earlier cases in one crucial way: the setting. The crowded wedding and rapid police response left Poonam with little time to manipulate the scene.
Forensic experts spotted signs of forced drowning and relatives began recalling earlier tragedies — each involving children dying in or near water. Threads of suspicion, long brushed aside, suddenly tightened around Poonam.
Deadly obsession with ‘beauty’ and the girls she targeted
The police say Poonam admitted that her actions were fuelled by a growing resentment toward “pretty young girls” in her extended family — children she imagined would grow up to outshine her. This jealousy, officers claim, first pushed her to murder nine-year-old Ishika, her sister-in-law’s daughter, in 2023. Ishika’s death, staged as a household accident, drew no suspicion; devastated relatives buried her believing she had fallen into a water tank while playing.
But the gravity of Poonam’s obsession became clear only when she described killing her own son, Shubham, later that same year. According to the police, Poonam feared relatives might harbour doubts about Ishika’s sudden death.
To protect herself, she allegedly drowned Shubham in a similar manner, hoping that her own loss would dodge emerging suspicions. The family, shattered by the second tragedy, accepted the narrative of another cruel accident. With no contradictions and no reason to doubt a grieving mother, the matter went unquestioned.
She allegedly struck again in 2025, this time targeting eight-year-old Jia, her cousin’s daughter, in Sewah village. As in earlier cases, Jia’s d*eath was regarded as a household mishap. The families performed the last rites believing fate had dealt yet another blow. Only after Vidhi’s m*urder did the pattern reveal itself — a pattern consistent in method, opportunity and motive.
Confession, shock, and a Family Demanding Justice
Police officers describe Poonam’s confession as disturbingly matter-of-fact. She reportedly detailed how she isolated each victim, earned their trust and used tubs or tanks of water to carry out the k*illings. Relatives, now piecing together small doubts they had dismissed, are devastated and furious.
Vidhi’s father Sandeep, who always suspected something was amiss after previous d*eaths in the family, said he wished he had pushed harder. “She was jealous… she k*illed my daughter,” he said, breaking down. “If she hadn’t been caught now, who knows how many more children she would have harmed? Even my son wouldn’t have been safe.”
Poonam has been remanded to custody as multiple police stations reopen the earlier cases that were never investigated as crimes. Forensic teams are re-examining old records, and officers say the case illustrates how jealousy, left unchecked and buried under family dynamics, can mutate into something unimaginably deadly.
