Woman who killed 4 children kept to herself, say residents of Panipat village   

The 32-year-old woman, arrested for allegedly murdering four children, including her son, over the past two years, was educated and clever, but mostly preferred not to mingle with others, residents of a village in Panipat district where she targeted her fourth victim, said on Thursday.

The husband of accused Poonam said that she was intelligent and did not show any sign of mental illness.

The Panipat police on Wednesday arrested Poonam for allegedly killing three girls over the past two years as she developed "hatred for them due to their beauty". She even killed her three-year-old son to avoid suspicion, the police earlier said.

The chilling details of the crimes were revealed when the police cracked the case of six-year-old Vidhi's death on Monday, where accused Poonam allegedly followed the same modus operandi -- drowning the victim in water-filled tubs or tanks.

On Thursday, several villagers in Naultha where the latest incident took place claimed that Poonam mostly preferred not to mingle with others. They said she was clever and educated and had MA and BEd degrees.

"We are deeply pained after learning that Poonam was accused in these murders of innocent children. We could not imagine she would turn out to be a killer," a Naultha villager said.

Naveen, Poonam's husband, told the media at Bawar village in Sonepat that they got married in 2019. He said no one in the family could have imagined what has happened.

Asked about the crime she committed, he said, "She should be given exemplary punishment, in the same way that she drowned these children to death.”

Vidhi's grandfather Pal Singh told reporters on Thursday that the family was at Naultha village for the wedding of a relative.

He said when everyone was busy with the function, Poonam allegedly committed the crime.

Some women present at the wedding had even asked her how her clothes had got wet. After this, she changed her clothes to avoid suspicion, Singh said.

He alleged that Poonam, on an earlier occasion, had tried to spill hot tea over Vidhi's face, "which we now presume was to disfigure her face".

Poonam, who hails from Sewah village in Panipat, was married in Sonepat's Bhawar village in 2019.

In August 2025, she allegedly drowned her cousin's six-year-old daughter in a water tank at Sewah village. The girl was sleeping next to her, but next morning was found dead in the water tank.

Vidhi's grandfather Singh said Poonam's second child will turn two in the coming weeks.

"Look at how the situation has unfolded with Poonam landing in jail for her crimes. It is Vidhi's mother who is feeding and taking care of Poonam's infant now," he said.

Panipat Superintendent of Police Bhupender Singh on Wednesday told reporters that the accused appears to be a psychopath and targeted her niece in the latest incident after she had come to attend a wedding with her family.

The three girl victims-- two aged six and one nine -- were related to the woman. Before the murder on Monday, the families of the victims had accepted the deaths as accidental and performed their last rites.

The six-year-old girl, Vidhi, went missing on Monday and was later found dead by her family in a storeroom of the house with her face down in a plastic tub filled with water.

Poonam lured the girl to the first floor room and drowned her in the tub, then bolted the door from the outside and came down, according to the police.

During questioning, the accused revealed the other murders, the SP had said.

"She killed two children, including her son, at Bhawar (her in-laws' village) in 2023, and a girl at Sewah in August this year," the SP had said.

When questioned in detail about the motive behind the killing, the accused told the police that she harboured hate for beautiful girls, the SP said.

Fearing that her family might suspect her, she had killed her own three-year-old son, Shubham, too, the police said.