A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly strangulating his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter to death as he suspected that his wife was having an extra-marital affair and did not want his child to grow up under her influence, police said on Thursday, 16 May.
The man, Malkit Singh, who had a stressful relationship with his wife, later tried to hang himself but could not succeed.
Singh lived with his wife and daughter at a rented house in Udai Vihar in Delhi, which comes under the Nihal Vihar police station.
The incident took place on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The couple were suspected to be under the influence of alcohol although a medical report is awaited.
Police said the couple fought even before the incident.
A case was registered and the accused father was arrested, Seju Kuruvilla, DCP (Outer) said.
Singh and his wife often fought as he suspected that she was having an-extra marital affair.
Fed up with constant fights, the couple had initially planned to end their life and send their daughter to her grandparents, police said.
On the night of the incident, when his wife fell asleep, Singh allegedly tried strangulate his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter with bare hands.
However, when he failed, he strangulated her using a "dupatta" and later tried to hang himself, the officer said.
When his wife woke up, she raised an alarm and found the body of her child.
The couple fought again, during which Singh threatened his wife that he would kill her if she reported the incident to anyone, police said.
They took the body of the child to Singh's house in Tilak Nagar where his parents used to stay. The duo told them that the child had been ill and that led to her death, another senior officer said.
Meanwhile, the landlord of the Udai Vihar house informed the police on Wednesday morning that Singh had killed the child. When police reached the house, they learnt that the couple had gone off to Tilak Nagar.
The accused father was arrested from Tilak Nagar while the child was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead, the police officer added.
The body has been sent for post-mortem and the reports are awaited.
During interrogation, Singh told the police that he suspected his wife of having an illicit relationship and did not want his daughter to be under her influence, so he decided to first kill his daughter and then kill himself.
"So, when his wife fell asleep, he strangulated his daughter to death," the officer said.
Singh worked as a delivery boy with a food joint and left his job two months ago after failing to get incentives.
He was addicted to alcohol. His wife, a house maker sometimes worked at private firms. The couple got married in 2014, police said, adding investigation is underway to ascertain the sequence of event.
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