A day labourer in Bankura murdered his 18-month-old daughter by smothering her with a pillow in her sleep because he suspected his wife of an affair.

Initially, accused Prashanto Bauri and his wife Munni both told police that their toddler had gone missing since Wednesday in a bid to hide the crime. However, in the face of interrogations, Prashanto broke down on Saturday night and reportedly confessed to his crime.

The police arrested Prashanto for murder and Munni for misleading the police.

The police said that on Wednesday night Prashanto returned home drunk and found his wife was sleeping on the floor with their three daughters. “Prashanto told us that he took a pillow and pressed it on the face of the youngest daughter until she died,” said an officer.

Later, Prashanto dumped her body at a bush around 700 metres from their tiled roof house in Boga village in Bankura Sadar subdivision. Munni came to know about the incident the next morning.

“Later he hatched a plan of a missing daughter story to hide his crime and his wife Munni cooperated with him,” said the officer.

However, on confessing to his crime during interrogation, Prashanto took cops to the spot from where they recovered the toddler’s decomposed body.

Prashanto told the police that he was suspicious of Munni since the birth of this child as he had no conjugal relations with her for the past four years.

On whether Prashanto killed his youngest daughter because he already had two more girls, the police said they were probing all angles.