Thane: 35-year-old man held for strangling his mentally-challenged daughter to death

A 35-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly strangling his 10-year-old mentally-challenged daughter to death in their house in Thane district of Maharashtra a day before, police said.

The couple has four daughters, ranging in age from 5 to 14, with the youngest of them residing with her grandparents in their hometown, as stated by a police spokesperson. According to the FIR, the accused, Manoj Agrahari, allegedly strangled his daughter, Lovely, at their residence in Dombivli when other family members were not at home. The official further revealed that Agrahari had a history of alcoholism and was known to physically abuse his wife.

The accused works at a grocery shop while his wife is employed at a company in the MIDC area of Dombivli. The victim, Lovely, has been mentally challenged and also speech and hearing impaired since her birth. According to the complaint, Agrahari went to the scrap shop where his 14-year-old daughter was working on Sunday and told her that Lovely was dead.

When the girl rushed home she saw her sister lying dead on bed and alerted her mother, the official said. Police have registered a case of murder under the Indian Penal Code and conducting further investigation.