'Husband loved her more than me': Woman kills three-year-old stepdaughter in Gorakhpur

She was caught by her husband while trying to flee

Lucknow: A three-year-old girl was hacked to death allegedly by her stepmother in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district as the woman thought her husband "loved" the child more than her.

According to police sources, the woman, identified as Pooja Maurya, a resident of Bijaraha village in the district, allegedly slit the neck of the child with an axe late on Wednesday night.

She was caught by her husband, Triveni Maurya, while trying to escape and was later handed over to the police.

Reports said that Triveni’s first wife Luxmi died a few years back following which he married Pooja. He had a daughter from his first wife.

Sources said that Pooja banged the child against a wall and later slit her neck with an axe. Triveni, who had gone out to answer the nature's call, saw his daughter lying motionless in a pool of blood when he returned.

Pooja, upon seeing her husband, tried to flee from there but was caught.

The police said that during interrogation, Pooja told them that she envied the child as her husband "loved" her more than her. ‘’I felt as if he had married me only to look after the child … he did not want a wife but someone to take care of his daughter,’’ she told the police.

A senior police official said that Pooja had been sent to jail.