Over 48 hours after 3-year-old Tejas Sonar was thrown into a canal by a woman, the police and fire brigade officials fished out his body from the canal at Shindevasti in Hadapsar on Sundaymorning.

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A woman washing clothes on the banks of the canal spotted the body and raised the alarm. The police officials said the face was mutilated, apparently by fish. “The parents identified the body with the help of a birthmark below the left ear,” the police said.

On Thursday night, Sangita Vilas Kivde (40), a resident of Mukundnagar in Swargate, tried to throw four children into the canal to kill them. One of them, Anmol Puran Mizar (5), escaped and the remaining two — Rohit Shankar Mizar (9) and his brother Rahul (8) — were rescued by local residents.

But the fourth child, Tejas, was untraceable.

The suspect was annoyed with the grandmother of the children, Nanda Lalsingh Mizar (60), for not repaying a loan. Nanda had taken Rs50,000 from her and returned about Rs1 lakh, but Sangita demanded more by way of interest.

Some local residents had apprehended the woman and handed her over to the police after the incident. The court has remanded her in police custody till Monday.

Hadapsar fire station officer, Shivaji Chavan, said the child was wearing a yellow T-shirt and jeans.

On recovering the body, the police rushed the body to the nearby Noble Hospital. Later, the body was taken to the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) for autopsy before handing it over to the parents.

Tejas’s mother, Sangita, broke down inconsolably.

Inspector in-charge of Swargate police station, Rajkumar Gaikwad, said the police have included a murder charge against Kivde. “We are trying to find out whether there was any other motive for the crime, besides lending money,” he added. The police suspect it could be a case of superstition.