A 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his father using a blade and trying to cremate his body at west Delhi’s cremation ground, by claiming that he died due to long-term illness, police said on Friday.
The incident came to light when a priest at Paschim Vihar cremation ground, Kaushal Pandey, was asked to give him a token worth ₹140 for cremation, but the accused kept insisting he cremate the body first.
The accused has been identified as Rinku Yadav, 26, who earlier worked as a civil defence volunteer and the deceased is identified as Satish Yadav, 60, police said.
“Whenever we get a dead body, we ask basic questions like how the person died, how are they related, however, it was suspicious when he kept insisting me to give him a token for rituals, so the body can be checked later,” Mr. Pandey told The Hindu.
He said Mr. Yadav came to the cremation ground in the morning to inform him that there has been a death in the family. In the afternoon, he came along with ten friends.
He said, the body was wrapped in a white cloth, and he had removed the cloth, only to see marks on his face and hands. Mr. Pandey alerted the police regarding the situation.
DCP (west) Vichitra Veer said, information was received at Punjabi Bagh police station when the police reached the spot, they questioned Mr. Yadav.
After he was interrogated at length about his father’s death, the DCP said, during sustained interrogation, he disclosed that he killed his father with a blade since he was a habitual drinker and was causing trouble in his family.
An officer said, “Mr. Yadav said his father would abuse and assault him often, on Thursday morning, he returned early morning in an inebriated state and began abusing Mr. Yadav.”
Police has registered a case under IPC section 302 (murder) at Punjabi Bagh police station, the DCP said.
