Father throws newborn girl into river, arrested

A 27-year-old man has been arrested for throwing his newborn baby girl into a river in Durg district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Friday.

"Premjeet Deshmukh confessed that he tossed his week-old girl into Shivnath river as he was expecting a baby boy. He was arrested late on Thursday," said Superintendent of Police (Durg) Dipanshu Kabra.

Kabra said police recovered the body of the girl from the river September 6 and sent it to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Hospital in Raipur for examination. The doctors confirmed that the child was killed.

"We went through records of all the addresses of mothers who delivered babies in August in government hospitals in Durg district. We reached their houses and then found that in Supela locality of Bhilai city resident Kriti Deshmukh, who delivered a baby girl September 2, had no answer to what happened to her newborn child," Kabra said.

He said Premjeet Deshmukh, a truck driver, who already had two girls was upset with the birth of the third girl. "He (Premjeet) took help of a female relative September 6 and dumped his newborn child into a river," Kabra said.

Premjeet and his female relative have been arrested.