Muzaffarnagar: In a suspected case of honour killing, a teenage girl was allegedly poisoned by her father who waited for her to die as she sat on a bench near a crematorium, police said on Tuesday.

The accused told police that he was a resident of Sikrod village in Ghaziabad and worked as a farmer. Sunder Singh alleged that after his wife's death around five months ago, he learned about his daughter's "bad character", the SHO said.

He had planned to dump his daughter's body in the Ganga river, on the banks of which the crematorium is situated, so that no one could trace it, they said.  

Tanu, believed to be about 16, died during treatment at the Bhopa Primary Health Centre here last evening, Station House Officer of the Bhopa Police Station, V P Singh said.

A group of Army aspirants, who practice running at an empty ground of the crematorium every evening, found her trembling in a semi-conscious state, he said.

The girl, who had studied till Class 7, signalled them for help, V P Singh said, adding when they drew close to her, she blurted out her name and that "her father had poisoned her".

The aspirants had seen a man standing near the girl, who was a resident of Ghaziabad, but he vanished while they were talking to her, the SHO said.

The youths immediately informed the police control room after which a police team reached the spot and rushed her to the PHC, he said.

The girl made the same statements before the police that she had made before the Army aspirants, V P Singh said, adding after sometime she died.

A police team arrested her father, Sunder Singh, from a forest near Raikheda village, where his sister lives, he said.

Sunder Singh confessed to giving poison to her, the police officer said. 

The accused told police that he was a resident of Sikrod village in Ghaziabad and worked as a farmer.

Sunder Singh alleged that after his wife's death around five months ago, he learned about his daughter's "bad character", the SHO said.

In a bid to change her, Sunder Singh sent his daughter to his sister Kusum's house in Raikheda village here two months ago.

The accused told the police that when he got complaints about her from the people here also, he decided to kill her, the police officer said.

Sunder Singh brought some tablets, apparently insecticides, from a shop in Ghaziabad and went to his sister's house on the pretext of some ceremony before Rakshabandhan, he said.

Last afternoon, he took Tanu to visit some places in Shukratal, a place of religious importance located 30 km from the Muzaffarnagar city, the SHO said.

After visiting several places, Sunder Singh and Tanu sat on a bench in the crematorium premises, which was situated on the Ganga river's bank, he said.

There he gave her water, laced with the poison, Sunder Singh told police.

Within minutes of drinking the water, she started shivering and called the youths.

Sunder Singh told the police that he had planned to tell his sister's family that she went to some other relative's house.

An FIR was registered against the accused on the charges of murder and causing hurt by use of poison, the police officer said.

The accused was sent to judicial custody by a court here, the SHO added.