NASHIK: A 26-year-old married woman has been arrested in Maharashtra's Nashik city on suspicion that she killed her toddler daughter, police said Thursday.
Yogita Mukesh Pawar, the accused, had told police that an unidentified man entered her flat in Panchavati area here Wednesday morning and slit the throat of her 14-month-old daughter, Swara.
She had gone downstairs to put garbage in collection van at the time, and when she returned, the man attacked her too, the woman, who had knife injuries, told police.
The girl was declared dead on arrival at hospital. However, her story looked suspicious as no valuables had been stolen from the house, nor was there any sign of a scuffle between Yogita and the assailant, said deputy commissioner of police Laxmikant Patil.
During questioning, she made contradictory statements, said inspector Suraj Bijali of Adgaon police station. Police also found a blade in the empty lift shaft of the building and the blood on it allegedly matched Yogita's own blood.
She was arrested Wednesday evening after she was discharged from the Nashik civil hospital. She was produced in a court Thursday which sent her in police custody till July 20, inspector Bijali said.
The exact reason for which she allegedly killed her daughter was not yet known, he said. Preliminary investigation revealed that Swara used to be ill very often.