BAREILLY: Police have arrested a man from

village of

on Wednesday for allegedly killing his cousin’s 11-year-old daughter on the suspicion that she was having an affair with a teenager.

Sources said that though the girl’s body was found hanging on Monday, the arrest was made only after the postmortem report revealed that she died due to strangulation.

According to police, the girl’s family had told them that their daughter,

(11), who was suffering from mental illness, hanged herself on Monday. However, the postmortem report revealed that strangulation was the cause of death and not hanging. Hence, they lodged an FIR against an unidentified person under section 302 (murder) of IPC.

A police officer, who did not wish to be identified, said, “During investigation, victim’s mother Chhoti Bitiya told us that her husband’s cousin Majid had a suspicion that the girl was having an affair with a 12-year-old boy of the same village. Though he had been claiming it for the past few days, Bitiya had said that she will believe it only if she sees it with her own eyes. On Monday, Majid again confronted the girl on the issue and this led to an argument. He then beat up the girl and strangulated her.”

Additional superintendent of police (rural) Aparna Gautam said, “After the girl was killed, a few relatives pressured the parents to remain quiet. They were in extreme distress and have now turned witnesses in the case. We have arrested Majid and will take action against those who asked the parents to not report the matter.”