Thane man ‘playfully’ slaps 3-year-old niece, she dies; he sets body on fire

A three-year-old girl died in Maharashtra’s Thane district after she was “playfully” slapped by her uncle. The 38-year-old man was arrested after he tried to burn her body in a bid to destroy evidence.
The incident took place in Thane’s Ulhasnagar. Her mother reported a missing complaint to the police on Monday. The girl’s partially burnt body was recovered on Thursday from the bushes near the Ulhasnagar Hill Line police station.
The man, who is the mother’s brother, was arrested soon after.
According to information, the man was playing with his niece at home on Monday when he “playfully” slapped her. The impact of the slap was so hard that the girl fell and hit her head and died on the spot.
The man immediately hid her body and, later, even accompanied his sister to the police station to lodge the complaint that her daughter had gone missing.
The family also shared pictures of her on social media and appealed to people to provide any information.
On Wednesday, taking advantage of people going out to vote in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the accused, his wife and their rickshaw puller friend took the body to the bushes and tried to burn it.
On Thursday, the police launched a search for the body. The three also joined the effort.
The rickshaw-puller found the body, but the police took the two men into custody due to suspicion. During interrogation, they confessed to burning the body but said the intention was not to kill the girl.
The man confessed to the police that he hid her body in a panic and later tried to dispose it.
Ulhasnagar Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Gore, said, “We have taken action to arrest the accused on the basis of technical analysis and the confession given by the accused. We will present the accused before the court and demand police custody. We are investigating further.”