New Delhi: A school van driver, who alleged on Sunday that his 10-month-old daughter had vanished, is now accused of murdering the infant by allegedly throwing her into a septic tank.Deepak (25) reportedly confessed to police, saying that his daughters — he has another older daughter — were a financial burden. His mother, Sheela, said that he would often say: “‘Mujhhey do beti ho gayi. Mujhhpe bahot bojh ho gaya (I now have two daughters. It has become a huge burden on me).”He now faces murder charges.On Sunday, Deepak stood outside his home in northwest Delhi’s Mukundpur before cameras, weeping and telling reporters that his daughter had mysteriously disappeared while he had briefly stepped out to buy milk, but inconsistencies in his version made the police suspicious.“There were at least two CCTV cameras in the area, and footage showed that no one had entered the house while he was away,” police said. During questioning, Deepak claimed he had handed over the child to someone and even took police to the spot where he allegedly left the child.However, investigators found no evidence to support his statement either.During interrogation, police said, Deepak confessed that he was under financial stress and did not want the burden of raising a second daughter and admitted to throwing the infant into the septic tank.Sonia, the infant’s mother, said she had no idea what had happened that night. “ I was at home with my older daughter and my 10-month-old baby. I gave milk to both. My older daughter had fever,” she said. Sonia claimed that night she and her older daughter fainted and “we did not realise what had happened.”“When my husband returned, he told me he found the baby’s feeding nipple lying outside the house. I immediately asked him where our daughter was, but nobody knew anything. I ran to my mother-in-law’s house thinking she might have taken the baby, but she also had no idea where my daughter had disappeared,” Sonia added.Sheela alleged that Deepak would frequently thrash his older child. “Earlier that morning, he beat her up badly. When I questioned him, he said, ‘It is my child, I can do whatever I want with her.’ The way he used to beat the girls used to shock me…. I would tell him that daughters today study, work and support their families too.”
