Father Strangles 5-Year-Old Girl To Death After Suspecting Wife Of Having Affair

In a horrific incident, a 5-year-old girl in India was killed by her father after he suspected his wife of having an extramarital affair.

The incident took place Monday in the western state of Gujarat. The couple allegedly had repeated arguments as the husband thought his wife was cheating on him, the Times of India reported.

On the day of the incident, the accused – identified as Shailesh Padhiyar – took his child to a farming field on the pretext of gathering firewood. After reaching there, he told her to sit near a canal, and then tore the belt from the dress she was wearing and strangled her with it.

After killing the girl, he returned home and took his wife to a doctor as she was unwell. Following the visit to the doctor, the couple came back home, and then the man asked his wife where their daughter was. When the wife – whose name has not been revealed – failed to answer, Padhiyar gathered the villagers to search for the girl.

Hours later, they found the body of the child and the police was called. The police suspected Padhiyar was in some way involved in the death of the girl, following which they questioned him. During the interrogation, he admitted to killing his daughter.

“Padhiyar and his wife used to have fights over suspicion of both having extramarital affairs... his wife even once told him that Purvi was not his daughter. Since then his suspicion only grew stronger,” the report quoted a senior police officer as saying. "We are not investigating if the wife said it in her moment of anger or whether the girl was indeed not his biological daughter,” the Times of India reported.

The officer added: “Both of them are unable to recall the date or year when they married. They claim to have been married for six years but the accused has stated that he is only 23 years of age. The mother is still in a state of shock but we will ascertain the facts during the investigation.”

An autopsy confirmed the child was strangled to death.