A 35-year-old man allegedly chopped off the ears of his three-year-old daughter in the wee hours today as he was having hallucinations about a "ghost" taking away his daughter, police said.
The accused Amrit Bahadur's family told police that was disturbed after his one-and-a-half-year-old other daughter died a couple of months ago. He had since been having hallucinations about a "ghost" who would take away his child.
Bahadur returned home in an inebriated condition and went to where his daughter Bina was sleeping.
He was apparently seeing a "ghost" who had threatened to take away his elder daughter. He did not want to lose his daughter and decided to follow the instructions of the ghost, police said.
During questioning, Bahadur told police that the "ghost" asked him to make his daughter cry and he poured water on the child.
When she started crying, the ghost apparently asked him to cut off his daughter's ear. He did so and chopped off a small portion of one of the ears. He said the ghost demanded that the ears should be cut off.
Bahadur told police that he did what the "ghost" asked him to do and chopped off the ears of his daughter.
The ghost then asked him to spill more blood and Bahadur decided to slit his daughter's neck. But before he could do that, the family members were awakened by the girl's cries and they stopped him before he could kill her.
Hearing noises from the house, their neighbours alerted the police and Bahadur was arrested from the spot, Nupur Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) said.
The police suspect that Bahadur might be suffering from a mental ailment since he has been talking about seeing ghosts and having hallucinations. He claimed that he did what he was instructed to by the "ghost" for his family's wellbeing.
The child was rushed to GTB Hospital by her family, who collected the chopped ears from the spot, and from there, she was referred to AIIMS.
Bahadur worked as a helper at a restaurant and also cleaned cars in the morning to make ends meet. His elder brother had passed away seven years ago.
After his brother's demise, he had married his sister- in-law who already had four children. The couple then had two daughters, one of whom died this year.
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