Vyasarpadi police said that the man was upset that his third child, born on June 29, was female. He already has two daughters aged 4 and two-and-a-half.

According to the police, the arrested man, identified as Rajkumar (38), a daily wage labourer, had told his wife on July 7 that their newborn child had developed a medical complication due to which her intestine had burst. The infant was then taken to a government hospital where she was admitted. She died there on July 9. Her body was handed over to the parents after an autopsy.