A 38-year-old man, who allegedly slapped his 3-year-old niece which resulted in her death, was arrested in Maharashtra’s Thane district.
He was arrested for allegedly killing his sister’s 3-year-old daughter and trying to burn the body, officials said, PTI reported.
The incident came to light when the child from the Ulhasnagar area went missing on November 18 and her partially burnt body was recovered from the bushes near a police station on Thursday.
Acting on technical inputs and human intelligence, police took the child’s uncle into custody. An official said the girl fell and died after the accused slapped her over something, PTI reported.
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The accused then set the body on fire to destroy it, said senior inspector Anil Jagtap of the Hill Line police station, adding that a probe is underway.
During interrogation, the accused, who is said to be in his 30s, confessed to the crime but claimed that he did not kill her intentionally. He claimed that he was playing with her when he jokingly slapped her and she collided with the kitchen slab and died, the police said, NDTV reported.
The police have sent the body for postmortem.
(With inputs from PTI)