Mentally ill man drowns girl

A man killed his five-month-old daughter by drowning her into a drain at Swaroop Nagar in north-west Delhi, police said on Tuesday. The man is a son of a Delhi police sub-inspector.

Police said Ajay Vikram killed his daughter due to depression over his meagre income. Police said he was mentally unstable.

Vikram, who lives in Sant Nagar at Burari, was working at a shop in Chandni Chowk. He was unable to afford the expenses of raising his daughter, police said. He thought of her as a liability, police added.

He took his daughter, Radhika, for a walk on Monday. Then he stopped near a drain in Swaroop Nagar and suddenly, held her by her legs. “He repeatedly put her into the drain until she died. After committing the crime, he put her body into a plastic bag and threw it into the canal,” said a senior police officer.

A passer-by grew suspicious of Vikram’s behaviour on the road and informed the police. Soon, a police team came to the spot and recovered the body. The body was taken to a hospital.

Doctors have sent the body for a post-mortem.

Vikram was arrested and produced before a court on Tuesday.

Police said Vikram is mentally unsound. “Vikram is retarded. He killed her daughter by putting her into a drain and then tried to get rid of the body,” said Meenu Chowdhary, deputy commissioner of police (north-west).

A senior police officer said he had been undergoing mental treatment for the last few years. His wife is also physically challenged.

The expenses of Vikram’s family are borne by his father. According to his father, when he returned home, Vikram immediately told his brother what he had done.

“We have sent Vikram for medical examination. We are trying to verify the family’s claims that he had been undergoing treatment for mental illness,” said Chowdhary.