Five days after girl’s body was found in canal in Gujarat, mother’s complaint lands father in jail: ‘He only wanted a son’

But something did not sit well with Anjana’s parents who had often seen the couple fight over Solanki’s desire to have a male child. Besides Bhoomika, Solanki and Anjana are parents to a three-year-old daughter.

They conveyed their apprehensions to the police. At the same time, they convinced Anjana into revealing the truth.

On Monday, Anjana confessed before the police about the events of that fateful night: It was her husband who had thrown their older daughter into the canal.

Solanki was arrested on Tuesday.

Bhoomika’s body was recovered from the Narmada canal near Vaghavat in Kapadvanj taluka of Kheda district.
Officials at Atarsumba police station said that on July 10, as the couple and Bhoomika were returning home from the temple visit, Anjana asked Solanki to drop her off at her parents’ home. Police said that due to frequent fights over a male child, Anjana would often return to her maternal home, only to be convinced by Solanki to come back to him.

This time, Solanki declined Anjana’s request and, instead, stopped his two-wheeler near the Narmada canal passing through Vaghavat village around 8 pm, police said.

“Suddenly, he threw his seven-year-old daughter into the canal. When his wife protested and turned inconsolable, he threatened to abandon her and asked her to remain quiet about the incident… The woman’s family has told the police that he used to quarrel with Anjana regularly as they did not have a son,” said Kheda district Superintendent of Police Rajesh Ghadiya.

The police said that while the family initially told police that Bhoomika had “slipped out” of the hands of the accused, police questioned Anjana after her parents expressed their suspicion over their granddaughter’s death.
“Initially, due to fear, Anjana had also told the police in her statement that the child had fallen off the bridge accidentally while her father was showing her the fish in the river… A case of accidental death was filed but the grandparents expressed suspicion and told us how Solanki continued to have preference for a male child and did not like his daughters. The mother confessed to her brothers and eventually, filed a complaint…” Ghadiya said.

After registering a case of murder, Police have arrested Solanki. Anjana, in her police statement, said her husband had “hatched the conspiracy” to kill their daughter.
Anjana told police, “It was Guru Poornima and he said he would take us to the temple. But it was just a ploy, he had planned this (the murder). As soon as we reached the temple, he hurried us back and brought us to Vaghalwada, where he said he would show our daughter the fish in the canal. I had no idea that he was going to throw her into the canal… Before I could understand anything, my daughter had been thrown off before my eyes. He only wanted a son. Later, he threatened me to remain quiet…”