Dad Drowns 7-Year-Old Daughter Alleging The Child Hurt His Third Marriage Prospects

A man in India has been arrested on suspicion of killing his 7-year-old daughter because he believed the girl was a "hurdle" to his marriage prospects.

Dharmesh Devipujak, 35, of Sanad in the Indian state of Gujarat, is accused of drowning the child in the local Narmada canal on July 8 and concocting false stories about her disappearance to mislead the cops, The Times of India reported.

Devipujak, who has been divorced twice, first approached the police on July 9, saying he dropped his daughter, Priyanka, somewhere and could not recall the location as he was drunk at that time. The man pleaded before the officers to find the child, after which the authorities began searching for her.

Devipujak came back to the authorities the next day and presented a different story. He told the police he had taken his daughter to a marketplace in the neighboring village and some thugs had abducted the child.

The man returned to the police station Sunday and changed his statements once again. He said they took a van to get back home from the marketplace and the driver offered them chocolates laced with sedatives and he fell unconscious, The Indian Express reported. Devipujak told the cops when he regained consciousness, his daughter was nowhere to be seen.

However, the police accessed surveillance footage from the area and caught Devipujak's lies about visiting the marketplace. Later that day, the police recovered the girl's body from the Narmada canal and summoned Devipujak again for questioning, according to the Times of India.

The officers said Devipujak confessed that he attempted to kill Priyanka on July 5 by injecting insecticides into her, but she survived. He took her to the canal on July 8 and killed her by pushing her into it.

"He told us that he has had two divorces in the past and he wanted to marry again. According to him, due to a seven-year-old daughter with him, he was finding it difficult to get a bride. So he decided to kill her off, " Sanand town police inspector H B Gohil told The Indian Express.

The man has been booked for murder and criminal conspiracy.