Man held for strangling 3-year-old daughter, dumping body in forest; son survives

A man was arrested for allegedly strangling his three-year-old daughter and abandoning her body in a forested area in Pune districts Junnar tehsil, with the incident coming to light after his son survived and was found by passersby, a police official said on Thursday.

A man was arrested for allegedly strangling his three-year-old daughter and abandoning her body in a forested area in Pune district's Junnar tehsil, with the incident coming to light after his son survived and was found by passersby, a police official said on Thursday. Sagar Sadashiv Shinde (29), a resident of Gaikwad Basti in Moshi, had allegedly taken his two children, Aryan (5) and Harshada (3), to the area on the pretext of an outing on Tuesday, the Alephata police station official said. ''The crime came to light on Wednesday morning after locals spotted the boy crying near a forest patch along the Pune-Nashik highway at Santwadi. The child told locals that his father had brought him and his sister to the forest and left him there during the night,'' the official said. Police later contacted the children's grandparents and launched a search for the accused, he said. ''When Shinde returned home, he allegedly tried to mislead family members and police by claiming the children were staying at a rented room in Chakan. However, his relatives grew suspicious and informed the police, following which he was taken into custody for questioning,'' the official said. Shinde has told police he tried to kill both through strangulation but the boy managed to survive, the official said. ''The girl's body was recovered Wednesday morning. It has been sent for post mortem. Our probe has found Shinde has constant fights with his wife, who had left him and the two children six months ago. He has been arrested under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for murder and other offences,'' he said.