Jajpur, Feb. 17: Police today arrested a man for strangulating his 15-year-old daughter to death in Lakshmi Narayanpur within Binjharpur police limits here.

Though the murder took place on Sunday night, it came to light after a woman from the village reported the matter to the police yesterday. The accused, identified as Nakula Jena, 45, confessed to the murder, the police said.

The police said Ranu, the victim, was a Class X student of a local school. She was preparing to appear in the Higher School Certificate Examination, scheduled to commence from February 22.

According to reports, Ranu allegedly had an affair with a married man from the village and spent hours chatting with him on her mobile for hours. The girl's family opposed her relationship with a married man and asked her to stay away from him.

"The girl's father asked her to stay away from the man. But she did not listen to him. When she refused to end the relationship, her father decided to kill her," said Binjharpur police station inspector in charge Asit Kumar Mohanty.

The accused strangulated the girl to death while she was asleep in her room on Sunday night. On Monday, the victim's family members cremated her body and the charred remains were thrown into the nearby river.

"Acting on a tip-off, we picked up Nakula today. He has confessed to the murder during interrogation," said Mohanty.

The cops visited the site where the girl's body was cremated but were unable to recover any remains as those had been thrown into the river. The accused was produced in court today and later remanded to judicial custody after the court rejected his bail plea, the police said.

One killed

One person was killed in a road accident here on Wednesday after hitting a water tanker. Police identified the victim as Ashok Kumar Pradhan of Jagamara area. Witnesses said the tanker driver applied the brakes suddenly, which caused Ashok to ram his motorcycle into the vehicle.