A 35-year-old woman in a western Orissa village killed her 17 day old daughter by drowning the infant in the village pond, police said on Thursday. The lady who had three daughters and a son felt this new born girl was burdensome and therefore killed her. She has been arrested by the police.

According to P K Bagarti, the officer in charge (OIC) of Nuapara police station in western Nuapara district under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, Premasila Sunani, wife of Nityananda Sunani, a resident of Suanbahal village of the district, took her infant girl  to the village pond when her husband was away and drowned her to death while taking bath.

After killing her daughter, the lady returned home and told the neighbours that her baby had been stolen away.

She narrated the same to her husband, who is a cow trader, when he returned home. He went to the police station immediately and filed a missing case.

The lady confessed to her crime when the police began a thorough investigation and interrogated her.

“During interrogation, the lady admitted that she killed her new born daughter as she did not want to raise a fourth girl child”, the OIC, Mr Bargati said.