An eight-month-old baby girl was strangled to death and thrown into a dry well at Gandipet on Tuesday night by her father who felt the second daughter would be a burden on the family.
Local residents, who later found the infant’s body in the well, attacked the house of the accused, Ramulu, and questioned him about the death. When he tried to escape by giving flimsy reasons, the locals beaten him up and later handed him over to the Narsingi police.
Ramulu is a resident of Gandipet and hails from Mahbubnagar district.
Police registered a case under section 302 (murder) against Ramulu and took up investigation.
During questioning by the police, Alivelu said Ramulu took the girl out of the house on the pretext of putting her to sleep. He took her into the nearby fields where he killed her and later threw her body into a dry well.
Ramulu confessed to his crime before the police. He said he took the extreme step as he was reeling under a severe financial crisis and was not in a position to take the burden of the second girl child.
Police said Ramulu and his wife Alivelu along with their elder daughter came to the city a few months ago for livelihood and had been working as daily-wage labour.