BERHAMPUR: A 20-year-old youth allegedly hacked his father to death for refusing to give him money to buy a mobile phone at Lalibi village under Chandili police limits in Rayagada district on Wednesday.
Police said the accused, Udaya Kadraka, was arrested on charges of murdering his father 45-year-old Bhima Kadaraka.
Sources said Udaya had been reportedly pressurising his father Bhima to purchase a cellphone for him. On Tuesday, an argument broke out between the father and son after Bhima expressed his inability to purchase the phone. Aggrieved, Udaya left home in anger. Later that evening, Bhima went to a hut in his farmland where he usually slept.
On Wednesday morning, Bhima’s wife Champa Kadraka (39) reached the farmland and noticed blood stains along with signs of something being dragged. Panic-stricken, she rushed to the hut, and not finding her husband, began searching the area.
She eventually found Bhima’s body with deep cut injuries on his head, neck, back, and hands. A rope was tied around his neck, and the body appeared to have been dragged to a pit near the boundary of the farmland.
Champa raised an alarm following which villagers rushed to the spot. On being informed, police along with a scientific team and sniffer dog reached the crime crime for investigation. Later, police picked up Udaya, who was found tending to a herd of grazing goats at some distance, for questioning.
During interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed to the crime and revealed that after killing his father, he dragged the body and attempted to bury it near the fence. However, seeing people approaching, he left the body and fled. He reportedly changed his bloodstained clothes before joining the goat herd, said Chandili IIC Uttam Kumar Sahu.
While Udaya was arrested, the deceased’s body has been sent for postmortem, Sahu added.