A woman threw her six-year-old special needs son into a canal infested with crocodiles in Karnataka after a fight with her husband. The child’s half-eaten body was found a day later, the police said on Monday.

32-year-old Savitri, who works as a house help, often fought with her husband Ravi Kumar, 36, over their son Vinod, who was born deaf and mute. They also have another two-year-old son.

Savitri told the police that Ravi, who works as a mason, used to repeatedly taunt her and tell her to kill their son by throwing him into the canal.

“My husband is responsible. He used to keep saying let the son die and that all he does is eat. Let him be, I’d say. If my husband keeps saying that, how much torture can my son endure? Where will I go share my pain,” she said.

After a similar fight on Saturday, Savitri took her son to the canal in Uttara Kannada district and threw him into the crocodile-infested waters.

Local people alerted the cops, who launched a search along with fire officials. The search continued overnight and the child’s body was found the next morning. The right arm was missing and there were bite marks all over the body, indicating that the child had been killed by a crocodile.

Both Ravi and Savitri have been arrested and a murder case registered against them, said police.

The Allahabad High Court had on December 19 last year rejected Ansari’s anticipatory bail application and said looking at the facts and circumstances of the case, an offence was made out against him

The victim, Sachin Rathod, left his house on Saturday night to meet his friend Santosh and was accompanied by two others