Mushtakeem, a resident of Mawaithakuran village, strangled his 18-year-old daughter Rehana Parveen after she insisted on marrying her lover Bhoora Prajapati, 21, police said.
Mushtakeem was arrested late Wednesday after Parveen's body was recovered from their home. The village is in Moradabad district, some 300 km from Lucknow. According to police, Prajapati and Parveen used to meet regularly in the fields on the outskirts of the village. But as Parveen had not been coming for the last few days, Prajapati approached police suspecting the girl could be in trouble.
Police raided Mushtakeem's house and recovered his daughter's body from a locked room. "Preliminary investigations indicate it's a case of honour killing. The father has confessed to the crime," police inspector Ravi Kumar told reporters Thursday.
"The father told us he committed the crime as he thought his daughter's marriage with the youth of a different community would bring a bad name to the family," he added.
According to police, besides the father, the girl's family members could also be involved in the crime.
"Investigations are on in this regard," said Kumar.