A one-and-a-half-year-old girl became the tragic victim of a conjugal dispute when her father allegedly killed her by throwing her to the ground with a heavy blow in Debidaspur village of Samsherganj, Murshidabad, on Sunday evening.

Barely an hour later, the accused father was run over by a speeding train.

The double tragedy left the child’s mother, Sulekha Khatun, shattered. “I have lost both my daughter and my husband,” she wept inconsolably.

Police said the bodies of the child Sulaima Khatun and her father Naim Akhtar, 32, were sent for post-mortem.

Residents said Naim of Samsherganj had married Sulekha of Islampur three years ago. Relatives of Sulekha alleged that the marriage turned abusive after the birth of their daughter, as Naim began torturing his wife for giving birth to a baby girl. Naim’s announcement that he would divorce her worsened the violence.

According to family members, a quarrel broke out between the couple on Sunday afternoon in front of relatives. At one stage, Naim lifted his daughter and hurled her violently to the ground, causing fatal injuries. The baby was rushed to Jangipur Hospital in a critical state, but doctors declared her dead on arrival.

After receiving news of his daughter’s death, Naim appeared to have lost his mental balance. Witnesses said he was hit and killed by a speeding train while attempting to cross the railway tracks recklessly in the Jaikrishnapur area. Family members, however, claimed that he ended his life by committing suicide.

On Monday afternoon, the bodies were handed over to Sulekha.

The police have launched a probe.