A 75-year-old man was bludgeoned to death by his drunken son for refusing to fetch water for him, the police said. The accused, allegedly an alcoholic, was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by his teenage daughter who witnessed the episode.
Daughter calls police
According to the police, the incident was reported from Bindapur in south-west Delhi on Friday night by the one of the victim's three grandchildren and the daughter of the accused, a 40-year-old man later identified as one Chetan.
“The police control room received information from the 14-year-old girl that her inebriated father had demanded water from her grandfather, Ramkumar, to make a drink. When the latter refused to do so, he was beaten to death by him,” said a senior police officer.
Ramkumar, a retired line-man at MTNL, stayed at one of two houses that he owns in the Khushi Ram Park area. Local residents told the police that Chetan used to force his father to do all the household chores after the his mother died and his wife left him.
Drunk before crime
On Friday, Chetan, an e-rickshaw driver, returned home at 10 p.m. and was watching television while drinking when he ran out of water and asked his daughter to fetch some for him. “Since there is a bit of a water crisis in the locality, Chetan's daughter told him that there was no water at home which angered him. He walked to Ramkumar's house nearby and demanded some water which the former refused, saying that what he had in storage was for his granddaughter and not for his alcoholic son,” said the officer.
Angered by this, Chetan picked up a stick and kept hitting him till Ramkumar fainted and slumped on the ground. According to the girl, none of the neighbours intervened or attempted to stop the assault on Ramkumar. The police was informed and the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Chetan has three children and was left by his wife due to his alcoholism, the police quoted the neighbours as having said. Chetan was placed under arrest and has been booked for murder.
