New Delhi  - A software engineer has been arrested in the southern Indian city of Chennai on charges of killing his baby daughter by throwing her into a well, news reports said Saturday.

S Niranjankumar allegedly committed the crime beacuse his wife had refused to abort the child, NDTV television channel reported.

Niranjankumar, 29, and Sangeetha, 22, were married a year ago and were based in India's information technology hub Bangalore.

Sangeetha's family said Niranjankumar did not want his wife to have a child for at least five years after their marriage.

"He didn't want my daughter to conceive, he kept putting pressure on her to find a job instead," Sangeetha's father R Balasubramaniam said.

Sangeetha quit her job after she conceived a few months into the marriage. She moved to her father's home in Chennai in September after her husband allegedly pressured her to have an abortion.

After Sangeetha delivered a baby girl on Monday, Niranjankumar arrived at the Chennai hospital and took his wife and child to his parents' home in Chennai on Thursday saying he wanted to hold a religious ceremony.

Late in the night, while his wife was sleeping, he threw the baby into a well in the compound of the house, the police said.

The police later recovered the infant's body wrapped in a towel from the well.

He was charged with murder, police official S Selvakumar said. (dpa)