Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh): Police arrested a man who allegedly raped his 8-year-old daughter and killed her over suspicion that his wife was cheating on him and believed that the daughter was born of her illicit relationship.
Police had earlier registered an FIR against their neighbour because the girl's body was found in his toilet on March 29. According to the cops, the girl had gone missing sometime in the evening on the day of the incident. The girl's father had lodged a complaint against the local youth after the girl's body was recovered from his toilet.
Station House Officer, Fatehganj West, Chandra Kiran said that though he had detained the youth and sent him to jail, he was not convinced that he had murdered because he was sleeping inside his house when he was caught.
Read: Govt taking measures to ramp up drug production: Official
The investigations continued even after the youth was arrested and the police found out that the girl's father often used to quarrel with his wife, and ill-treat the victim.
The father also changed his statement during investigations and the girl's mother also expressed suspicion about her husband. It further emerged the father had also borrowed money on interest from the arrested youth, giving credence to a financial motivation behind his naming as the accused.
Finally, forensic evidence collected from the spot and the girl's body also indicated the father's involvement in the crime. The father was arrested and sent to jail on Wednesday after he was produced before a magistrate.
Also read: COVID-19 LIVE: 49-year-old patient dies in Pune, fifth death in a day
Additional SP (rural) Sansaar Singh said, "When we started the investigation, the girl's mother had indicated that her husband could have committed the murder. A day after we questioned him for the second time, he changed his statement and then went absconding. He was caught on Tuesday and that is when he confessed to the crime, as he suspected she was born of his wife's illicit relationship with another man."
The ASP said that the youth who was earlier booked will now be acquitted.
(IANS report)
