A retired government employee was arrested from the Bigrahpur in Patna for stabbing his sleeping daughter to death on Sunday.

Police said Shiv Shankar (61) bought a knife from a shop in Mithapur on Saturday, and fled his house after stabbing his daughter, Komal Kumari (22), on Sunday morning when her mother, Reshmi Devi, had gone for a morning stroll.

When Reshmi (55) returned around 7am, she found Komal lying in a pool of blood. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her dead.

Police said Shiv Shankar, who retired from the post of telephone operator in the office of the Bihar State Power Holding Corporation Limited at Vidyut Bhavan in Patna last year, was arrested from a place under the jurisdiction of Jakkanpur police station.

Jakkanpur police station house officer (SHO) Abrar Ahmad said Reshmi lodged a case against her husband, who was subsequently arrested. The police also seized the knife used in the crime.

Reshmi claimed her husband was deranged and was undergoing treatment, but Shiv Shankar told the police that his wife had extra-marital affairs, which he had opposed.

"My daughter too had an illicit relationship with a relative who frequently visited my house. I used to oppose it but was forced to ignore it," the SHO quoted Shiv Shankar as saying.

Shiv Shankar was produced before the chief judicial magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.