As little Karpurika Das’s last rites were being performed on Friday afternoon, her mother Soma remained in hospital and father Abhishek was in custody, trying to convince police that he was not responsible for his wife pouring toilet-cleaning acid into their daughter’s mouth and trying to immolate herself.

The police arrested Abhishek, a customer care executive in the call centre of a private bank, and his retired banker father Kalyan, on the basis of a complaint by his father-in-law Ranjan Sengupta. Father and son were accused of torturing Soma for dowry and driving her to kill her child and attempt suicide on Thursday.

“They were arrested under Section 498 of the IPC and remanded in judicial custody for seven days,” P.K. Tripathi, the additional superintendent of police of Barrackpore, said.

The Sengupta family was against Soma marrying Abhishek three years ago.

Abhishek said his wife was overpossessive and was always insecure about their relationship. “She stood by me against all odds, though I don’t know why she felt so insecure about me. The most distressing part is that neither of us could perform the last rites of our only child.”

Soma’s family took away the body of two-and-a-half-year-old Karpurika after post-mortem.

Doctors at RG Kar Medical College Hospital said Soma was stable but would need more treatment for her to be able to face the police.

“We will arrest her once she is fit. We have already registered a case under Section 302 (for murder) against her,” an officer said.

Abhishek and Soma allegedly quarrelled often about money and their relationship. “Soma has a history of psychological problems and cannot take stress, but there was no indication that Soma would do this,” the officer said.