HOWRAH: A couple who wanted a son allegedly killed their two-month-old daughter by forcing fistfuls of salt down her throat and then strangling her at their home in Liluah, Howrah , less than 10km from the city.Sanjay Gupta, 39, and his wife Sangeeta, 29, had two other girls in the last three years, both of whom died “mysteriously”, police have found out. The couple has been arrested, along with Sanjay’s parents and sister, for the child’s murder. Sanjay works at the engineering division of a Howrah rolling mill. He has been married five years.Neighbour Sunil Deb Ray said he and some others saw the couple, Sanjay’s parents Amar Nath Gupta, 62, and Asha, 51, and sister Poonam Verma, 24, returning from the local Amtala crematorium early on Sunday, their hands and feet muddy. They said their infant daughter, Chandni, died after choking on milk from her feeding bottle. “But this has been a refrain now,” said Ray. “They said the same thing when their first two children died.”‘By late evening, the baby had fallen silent’The couple’s other daughters — aged 19 months and a month, respectively — had died in late 2017 within a month of each other, said sources. On Sunday, not convinced by the couple’s story, the neighbours started asking questions. “After the second incident, we were very suspicious,” said Avdesh Upadhyay, a neighbour. “We, too, have a two-year-old child. My wife had taught Sangeeta how to use a feeding bottle. We had even heard the child cry last evening. By late evening, she had fallen silent. My wife, suspecting something wrong, went over to inquire. Sangeeta told her the baby was asleep.”While the neighbours were questioning the family on Sunday, Amar Nath suddenly lost his temper at his daughter-inlaw and started shouting that she was the “root of all evil”, saying she was to blame for there being no sons born in the family. The neighbours got infuriated and started assaulting them.After a while, the Liluah police reached the spot. They managed to rescue the five and take them to the police station for interrogation. A team of cops also went to a spot near the crematorium to dig out the infant’s body from a pit. The pit had a lot of salt in it, said the cops.The couple confessed, saying they stuffed salt down her throat and strangled her. They have stuck to the same story on their earlier daughters, though, said a source.The five have been charged under sections 302 (murder), 201 (wiping out evidence) and 34 (common intent) of the IPC. “Initial inquiry suggests they were complicit,” said DCP (North) Amit Rathore.