New Delhi: A 75-year-old man was bludgeoned to death by his drunk son for refusing to give him water at their residence in southwest Delhi’s Bindapur on Friday night.
The accused, identifed as Chetan (40), was in an inebriated state during the time of the incident. Chetan’s 14-year-old daughter is an eyewitness to the case and told the police that her father needed water to make a drink, but her grandfather refused as there was water crisis in the locality.
She also said that most of the neighbours became mute spectators and only a handful intervened, but were warned against it.
The police said that the deceased, Ramkumar, had retired after working as a lineman at MTNL and owned two houses in Khushi Ram Park, one of which was occupied by Chetan. After the death of Ramkumar’s wife, his son’s wife had also left the house. The deceased was made to do all the household chores and often beaten up for failure to do so.
On Friday, Chetan, who had started working as an e-rickshaw driver since the last six months, returned home at 10 pm. Locals said that there was no water supply in the area since the last couple of days.
Chetan’s daughter, who witnessed the entire incident, said that her father called out for her and asked her to get a glass of water for his drink, but she refused as there was no water at home.
“He got up and walked up to my grandfather’s house. He asked him for water, but my grandfather refused,” the girl told the cops.
Angry on being turned down by his father, he picked up a stick and started hitting him. He punched and kicked him until he fainted and fell to the ground. The police was informed and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. “He punched his grandfather on his chest and threw him against the wall after which he fainted. No neighbour intervened in the fight,” she said. Chetan has three children and due to his drinking habits, his wife had left him and was staying separately with their four-year-old son. “A case of murder has been registered and the accused was arrested. Further investigations are underway,” said DCP Surender Kumar.
