BEd from Sonepat, psycho-killer 'drowned' all 4 children

The psycho-killer, Poonam, who has been arrested by the Panipat police, employed the same modus operandi to allegedly kill four children. However, a minor mistake after murdering 6-year-old Vidhi at Naultha village landed her in jail.

The accused had allegedly drowned Vidhi in a tub at a store room of the first floor of a house on December 1.

Poonam was married to Navin of Bhawar village in 2019, and was a postgraduate in political science from Kurukshetra University. After marriage, she completed her Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree from Sonepat.

According to police sources, Poonam was very clever and tried to mislead the police teams by her confident behaviour and tricks. The sources said she had made a perfect plan to kill Vidhi, but, Pal Singh, grandfather of the girl and a retired police officer, suspected the manner in which she was found dead in the tub.

Evidence also strengthened the suspicion of murder as the room was bolted from outside and the tub was only 12 inches deep. Only her head was in the tub, while the rest of the body was slumped outside the tub.

Dr Neelam Arya, a forensic expert who visited the spot along with DSP Naveen Sandhu and CIA teams, found the pattern of the incident different. The scientific evidence collected from the spot helped the team crack Vidhi’s murder within 36 hours of the crime.

When the CIA-1 team nabbed Poonam, she tried to mislead the police by telling them by cooking up stories, but later, confessed to the crime.

“She is very clever. She had made a perfect plan to kill Vidhi. When the police started grilling her, she made the disclosure and confessed to killing four children,” said the DSP.

The police have registered one more case against her for killing Jia, her niece, in August 2025 by drowning her in a water tank. She also killed Ishika, her sister-in-law's daughter, by drowning her in 2023. But to make it look like an accident, she murdered her son, Shubham, by drowning him in the same tank.

Poonam said she took Jia while she was sleeping and drowned her in the tank at night. Her body was found in the morning, but the matter was dismissed as an accident.

During the investigation, she revealed that she used to drown the children to ensure their death. SP Bhupender Singh said the disclosure report of the accused would be sent to the Sonepat police for further action.