Police on Monday arrested Chandan Kumar, who had allegedly raped and murdered his five-year-old stepdaughter on Sunday.

Chandan was arrested from Maner in rural Patna by a special team of the police, police sources told The Telegraph.

The accused told the cops he didn't like the girl as she was not his own child and wanted to get rid of her.

"Chandan was nabbed from a house of his relative. During interrogation, he accepted the fact that he had raped the victim and then strangulated her to death," Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj told The Telegraph.

The girl's 30-year-old mother, who works as a domestic help, had returned home after finishing her work around 8.45am on Sunday when she found her daughter lying in a pool of blood on the bed and her clothes scattered on the floor.

The woman, a resident of Loha Gali locality under Kadamkuan police station, had told the police that she had raised an alarm but wasn't able to locate Chandan. The two married around two years ago after the woman's first husband passed away.

Police sources said Chandan had told them his relationship with his wife had soured as he wanted his own child with her.

The woman, he has purportedly stated, was not keen to have another child as their earnings were not much and she wanted to wait.

This gave rise to friction between the couple, for which Chandan held the child responsible and vowed to get rid of her.

"A few days before the murder, the couple had a heated argument over the issue that acted as catalyst; he gave shape to the murder on Sunday morning," a police officer told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The woman is still in a state of shock and not in a position to answer the police's questions.