Deoria (UP), March 18 (IANS): The Deoria Police have arrested a 35-year-old man, Raju Kumar, for the murder of his wife and infant daughter.

The arrest occurred on Sunday following a 45-day investigation into the double murder.

According to the police, Raju's wife, Rinki, 32, received around Rs 10 lakh from her family. As Raju's business was not thriving, he asked for money, but his wife refused. He became agitated upon discovering that she was spending money on their 10-month-old daughter.

Circle officer, city, Deepak Shukla, said that it all started on February 5, when Raju killed his daughter in a fit of rage and disposed of her body in a dense undergrowth near his village.

The following day, when Rinki asked about the whereabouts of their daughter, Raju, in a fit of rage, also killed her and then fled the village.

“Two days later, the villagers found Rinki’s body and informed the police. When Raju was not found, we got apprehensive that he was in some way involved in the crime,” Shukla said.

“Raju’s phone was found to be active. We used surveillance techniques to locate him and questioned him as to why he did not inform police about his missing wife. Initially, he tried to mislead us by making false claims which could not be corroborated. Finally, he disclosed that he killed his daughter because his wife used to spend money on her,” said Shukla.

“Raju said he killed his wife as she was about to inform police about his daughter’s murder,” he said.

The child’s body has also been recovered.