The accused were caught by Haryana Police as they were trying to run away.

In Palwal, Haryana, a man, along with his wife, killed his 1.5-year-old daughter and kept the body hidden in the house for two days.

A man, identified as Dilip, and his second wife Ritu, killed his daughter and tried to hide the murder by throwing the body in a canal.

Fearful that the smell of the body would reveal the crime, the duo decided to drop the body in the nearby canal. Around 3 am on October 1, the infant's stepmother and father wrapped the body in blankets and nightgown, placed it in a bag and proceeded to throw it into the canal.

However, on their way, Dilip and Ritu were circled by dogs who started barking at the couple. In a rush, they dropped the bag on the corner of the street and fled.

The Haryana Police arrested both accused from the Palwal railway station on Saturday.

Body found stuffed in bag

According to DSP Yashpal Khatana, on the morning of October 1, police received information that the body of an infant was found lying in a bag at a street corner in Sheikhpura locality. Police reached the spot and found the bag with the bag -- with the body of the child wrapped in blankets and a nightgown.

However, the nightgown turned out to be the clue that led the police to the accused.

According to police, Dilip belonging to UP's Deoria used to live in a rented house in Palwal's Sheikhpura locality. He worked as a carpenter in the area. A year-and-a-half ago, Dilip's first wife Pushpa gave birth to the baby girl but died soon after.

Stepmother hated child

Only a month or two after Pushpa's death, Dilip got married to a woman named Ritu. After marriage, Ritu gave birth to a child. Since then, Dilip's second wife Ritu started disliking her stepdaughter and used to beat her up daily.

DSP said that during interrogation, Dilip told that his second wife had beaten his daughter on September 29 and both of them stomped on the child's chest as a result of which she died. They then kept the body in a cupboard in their home.

When the corpse started to smell, both of them made a plan to hide the body and on October 1, the body was kept on the corner of the street and the two tried to run but were caught by the police.