For 'healthy' son, couple starves daughter to death

In a shocking incident, a six-year-old girl was allegedly starved to death by her parents, on an exorcist's advice that it would enable them have a ''healthy'' child, in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district, about 350 km from here.

According to police sources here, the victim died a few days back and had been buried by the parents inside their house at Chaudharpur village in the district. The parents claimed that their daughter had died of malnutrition.

Acting on a tip-off, the police exhumed the body on Sunday, sources said, adding that the autopsy revealed that the child had suffocated to death. It also revealed that the girl had not eaten food for several days.

Her father Anandpal Singh was arrested on Monday.

Sources said that Anandpal had a son, who suffered from rickets, a disease caused by vitamin D deficiency in children.

On exorcist's advice

Anandpal said that an exorcist had advised him to kill the girl and bury her inside the house if he wanted his next son to be ''healthy''. Anandpal's wife Moni was six months pregnant.

The parents allegedly stopped giving food to the girl and locked her in a small room. She died a few days back. Though the parents claimed that she had died of malnutrition, the villagers told the cops a different story.

Police said that the girl might have been strangled to death. A case was lodged against Anandpal and his wife Moni for killing their daughter and hiding the body, sources said.