Following a quarrel with wife, a 35-year-old man drowned his two-months-old baby to death in a bathtub. The barbarous incident took place at a house in Nawagaon village under Jhinkpani thana area of West Singhbhum district, about 100 km away from here on Monday night.

The killer father identified as Hariram Hembram fled his home only to be caught by the police near his village on Tuesday morning. The police arrested Hariram and sent him to the judicial custody after shifting the infant's body to Chaibasa Sadar Hospital for postmortem.

OC, Jhinkpani thana, Ravi Ranjan said the victim's mother, Sukumati, had married her brother-in-law Hariram three years ago after her husband's unnatural death. "But Hariram was not satisfied with the marriage and wanted to marry a virgin," he added.

Though he wanted to marry afresh, he had a daughter born from the relationship with Sukumati two months ago despite the regular bickering over the remarriage issue, " said Ravi Ranjan after taking a statement from the bereaved woman while talking to The Telegraph Online.

The OC said the quarrel over the same issue between Sukumati and her husband was rather intense on Monday night at about 10 pm, when he picked up the baby from her mother's lap forcefully and drowned her in a bathtub filled with water.

Ravi Ranjan said after drowning the baby to death, the assailant left the infant's body in the bathtub and fled the house, leading some villagers to inform the police around midnight. The OC pointed out a police party had rushed to Nawagaon village instantly and seized the body. He said as Hariram was absconding, the police were searching for him at every possible place and finally he was caught with the help of the villagers outside Nawagaon on Tuesday morning.