A woman in Panipat, northern India, has been arrested and allegedly confessed to drowning her six-year-old niece during a wedding celebration on Monday, telling police she committed the act because the child appeared more attractive than her.

The suspect, identified locally as Poonam, allegedly killed her paternal niece Vidhi by submerging the child’s head in a tub of water during family wedding festivities. The girl had traveled to the ceremony with her parents, infant brother, and grandmother.

The family discovered Vidhi was missing after receiving a phone call during the celebration. Following an hour-long search, the child’s grandmother found her deceased in a storeroom with her head underwater. Medical staff at NC Medical College pronounced her dead upon arrival.

During police questioning, Poonam reportedly confessed to three additional killings over the past two years. According to local media reports, she admitted to drowning her sister-in-law’s daughter in 2023, then killing her own son shortly after to deflect suspicion. In August of this year, she allegedly drowned another young girl in nearby Siwah, again citing the victim’s appearance as her motive.

Police say all previous deaths had been treated as accidental drownings until Poonam’s confession. Authorities are now investigating the earlier incidents as potential homicides.

The case has shocked the local community, raising questions about how multiple child deaths within the same family went undetected as suspicious until now.