Man kills 2-year-old stepdaughter by smashing her head with a stone; held

KOLKATA: A 35-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing his 2-year-old stepdaughter by smashing her head with a stone in sleep and throwing her at a drain beside Maidan last week.
The dead body of the girl, head smashed and face brutally damaged, was found beside a drain at Kingsway – Strand Road crossing in Maidan on January 31. Police said, the girl’s mother had complained that the child had gone missing January 30, ever since the stepfather, Tapan Sardar, had taken her out for a stroll and never returned home.

Tracking Sardar’s mobile tower location, police picked him from Ekbalpore area on Tuesday on the face of relay interrogation he allegedly confessed to have killed the child.

“The man has said, he was finding it difficult to accept the child ever since he got married to the woman last year. Hence on January 30, he took the child away and once she slept, he laid her at a desolate place in Maidan and killed her by smashing her head with a stone. He was initially denying the crime, but later confessed his guilt,” said a senior officer of Maidan police station.

The family used to stay at the footpath opposite to the Gangasagar transit camp ground in Maidan. The child’s mother Purnima Sardar, who works as a domestic help, had lodged a complaint of kidnapping and murder after the child was found dead less than 300 metres from the place she used to stay. Tapan used to work as a daily labourer.

“She had said that the family used to have fights over the baby and was never ready to accept the child. On January 30, he took her out for a stroll and never came back,” said the officer.