GUJRAT: A man allegedly killed his four-year-old daughter by drowning her in Upper Jhelum Canal to get financial “compensation” from the provincial government.

After throwing minor girl Sabiha into canal, suspect Shahbaz lodged a false complaint with Kakrali police on Tuesday that his daughter had been kidnapped while going to school at Jakhar village near Kotla.

Later, Dinga police found the girl’s body floating in the canal near Randheer village which was later identified as Sabiha.

District Police Officer Sohail Zafar Chattha told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday that after fishing out the girl’s body from canal, the police grilled Shahbaz who confessed to have killed his daughter, hoping he would get Rs0.5 million in compensation from the Punjab government.

The suspect told investigators that he was under a Rs0.7 million debt and he needed the amount to pay it off.

The heartless father told police that on Wednesday he picked Sabiha from his house on the pretext of dropping her at school, but instead took her to the canal bank and threw her into deep waters.

The handcuffed suspect was also produced at the press conference.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2016