Rajkot (Gujarat), Jan 9 (IANS): Rajkot police have arrested a man for allegedly killing his two-and-half-year-old stepdaughter.

The man has been identified as Amit Gaud and was arrested from Gandhinagar on Sunday night.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sajjansinh Parmar told local media that on January 6, police had found the dead body of the child, identified as Ananya, in the backyard of a roadside Dhaba (highway restaurant) on Gondal Road.

Her mother, Rukmaniben told the police that her husband had taken the child for a ride, but on returning he was alone. On repeated questioning he told Rukmaniben that she had met with an accident and was taken to a hospital.

Rukmaniben later lodged a criminal complaint with the Aji Dam police station against her husband Amit Gaud. The police on Sunday night arrested Gaud from Gandhinagar, while he was planning to flee to his native state Madhya Pradesh.

During the primary questioning, Gaud is said to have told the police that Ananya was an obstacle in his love and new life, and he was not financially sound to take responsibilities of three persons. Over this issue, Gaud and Rukmaniben often used to quarrel, so he strangled the child and threw her body in the backyard of the roadside Dhaba.