‘Serial Killer Mom’ Case: How a Locked Storeroom Revealed a Chilling Trail of Children Drowned in Tubs
What unfolded in Naultha village looked like any other lively North Indian wedding the blare of band music, children darting across the courtyard, women adjusting bright dupattas as the baraat prepared to leave. But hidden beneath the laughter and celebration, police say, a predator moved silently and deliberately.
That predator, investigators now allege, was Poonam, a 34-year-old woman who blended effortlessly into the crowd in her vibrant salwar suit. As she watched six-year-old Vidhi skip past her that evening, an all-too-familiar and deeply disturbing urge resurfaced. Hours later, the child would be found drowned in a plastic tub the “accident” that finally broke open a chilling pattern of murders that had gone unnoticed for nearly two years.
Haryana Police say Poonam confessed to killing four children all by drowning them in tubs or tanks including her own three-year-old son. Investigators said she admitted targeting children she believed were “better looking than her own,” and killed her son because she feared he had witnessed one of the murders.
Poonam, a farmer’s wife from Bhavar village in Sonipat and mother to a four-year-old boy, had managed to pass off each death as a heartbreaking household mishap. It was only when Vidhi died that the cracks in her story began to show.
Vidhi had traveled with her family from Bhavar to attend the wedding. As the baraat preparations grew chaotic, the child disappeared. Her grandfather, Pal Singh, received a call late Monday night saying she was missing. Her grandmother, Ompati, and mother, Rakhi, rushed to search every corner the courtyard, the staircase, the street outside.
Around 2am, Ompati noticed something strange: the storeroom door on the first floor was locked from the outside. When she opened it, her world collapsed. Vidhi lay face down in a tub filled with water, her small head fully submerged.
She was rushed to Israna Medical College, where doctors declared her dead. The scene felt wrong from the start, and a forensic team later confirmed the family’s worst fears it wasn’t an accident. A police case was filed at Israna station based on Pal Singh’s complaint.
During questioning, Poonam’s statements shifted, contradicted themselves, and failed to match eyewitness accounts. Officers grew suspicious, and after hours of interrogation, she broke down confessing not just to Vidhi’s killing but to three earlier murders with the same method.
The Four Cases That Went Unnoticed
A horrifying pattern emerged:
All four deaths had been tragically accepted as accidental drownings a child slipping, an unnoticed fall, a moment of inattention. No one suspected a pattern.
She followed her, asked her to fill a tub with water, and then bring it to the storeroom. When the child complied, Poonam overpowered her, held her head underwater until she stopped moving, locked the door from outside, and calmly walked back into the crowd smiling, talking, and celebrating as if nothing had happened.
During questioning, police said Poonam admitted she felt an uncontrollable compulsion to harm children she thought were “more attractive than her own.” Her murders were not impulsive accidents but calculated acts masked behind ordinary domestic routines water tubs, household tanks, a brief moment alone.
As the investigation deepens, police are verifying her statements and examining whether more unexplained child deaths in the region could be linked to her.
Poonam is now in custody, and the quiet villages of Sonipat and Panipat are struggling to comprehend the horror that lived among them a woman who mourned with families she herself had shattered.
That predator, investigators now allege, was Poonam, a 34-year-old woman who blended effortlessly into the crowd in her vibrant salwar suit. As she watched six-year-old Vidhi skip past her that evening, an all-too-familiar and deeply disturbing urge resurfaced. Hours later, the child would be found drowned in a plastic tub the “accident” that finally broke open a chilling pattern of murders that had gone unnoticed for nearly two years.
A Confession That Shook an Entire District
Haryana Police say Poonam confessed to killing four children all by drowning them in tubs or tanks including her own three-year-old son. Investigators said she admitted targeting children she believed were “better looking than her own,” and killed her son because she feared he had witnessed one of the murders.
Poonam, a farmer’s wife from Bhavar village in Sonipat and mother to a four-year-old boy, had managed to pass off each death as a heartbreaking household mishap. It was only when Vidhi died that the cracks in her story began to show.
The Night of the Wedding: A Child Goes Missing
Vidhi had traveled with her family from Bhavar to attend the wedding. As the baraat preparations grew chaotic, the child disappeared. Her grandfather, Pal Singh, received a call late Monday night saying she was missing. Her grandmother, Ompati, and mother, Rakhi, rushed to search every corner the courtyard, the staircase, the street outside.
Around 2am, Ompati noticed something strange: the storeroom door on the first floor was locked from the outside. When she opened it, her world collapsed. Vidhi lay face down in a tub filled with water, her small head fully submerged.
She was rushed to Israna Medical College, where doctors declared her dead. The scene felt wrong from the start, and a forensic team later confirmed the family’s worst fears it wasn’t an accident. A police case was filed at Israna station based on Pal Singh’s complaint.
How Investigators Connected the Dots
Panipat SP Bhupendra Singh said the police control room had received the call on December 1 reporting a six-year-old girl found drowned in a house. When officers arrived, the circumstances looked suspicious.During questioning, Poonam’s statements shifted, contradicted themselves, and failed to match eyewitness accounts. Officers grew suspicious, and after hours of interrogation, she broke down confessing not just to Vidhi’s killing but to three earlier murders with the same method.
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The Four Cases That Went Unnoticed
A horrifying pattern emerged:
- January 2023: Ishika, her sister-in-law’s 9-year-old daughter, drowned in a water tank at Bhavar
- Late 2023: Her 3-year-old son, Shubham, drowned by her to “silence him” after he saw Ishika’s murder
- August 2025: Jiya, her cousin’s 6-year-old daughter, drowned at a maternal relative’s house in Siwah
- December 1, 2025: Vidhi, her six-year-old niece, drowned at the wedding in Naultha
All four deaths had been tragically accepted as accidental drownings a child slipping, an unnoticed fall, a moment of inattention. No one suspected a pattern.
Her Statement Revealed the Method
According to police, Poonam confessed that on the night of the wedding she noticed Vidhi climbing the stairs alone when most guests had left with the baraat.She followed her, asked her to fill a tub with water, and then bring it to the storeroom. When the child complied, Poonam overpowered her, held her head underwater until she stopped moving, locked the door from outside, and calmly walked back into the crowd smiling, talking, and celebrating as if nothing had happened.
The Motive Behind the Murders
During questioning, police said Poonam admitted she felt an uncontrollable compulsion to harm children she thought were “more attractive than her own.” Her murders were not impulsive accidents but calculated acts masked behind ordinary domestic routines water tubs, household tanks, a brief moment alone.
As the investigation deepens, police are verifying her statements and examining whether more unexplained child deaths in the region could be linked to her.
Poonam is now in custody, and the quiet villages of Sonipat and Panipat are struggling to comprehend the horror that lived among them a woman who mourned with families she herself had shattered.
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