BARIPADA: A 25-year-old youth was arrested on Saturday for allegedly beating his uncle to death over a prolonged land dispute.
The accused has been identified as Papu Naik and the deceased is his uncle, Patak Naik (52) of Kardia village under Karanjia police limits of Mayurbhanj district.
As per sources, Papu was mentally unstable and had a strained relationship with his uncle owing to a land dispute. They reportedly also had heated arguments over the issue.
On the day, Patak was asleep in the afternoon when the accused entered his room and started attacking him with a bamboo stick. When Patak screamed for help, his family members reached the spot but the accused threatened them of dire consequences if they made further advances. He then reportedly kept beating Patak in front of them until his condition deteriorated. Later, villagers and the family members managed to rescue Patak and took him to Karanjia sub-divisional hospital, where doctors declared him dead. On getting information, police reached the spot and arrested Papu.
Karanjia IIC Sarat Kumar Mallik said as per preliminary investigation, Papu was found to be mentally unstable and he had long planned to kill his uncle. “A case under section 103(I) of BNS was registered. The accused will be produced in court on Sunday. The deceased’s body sent for postmortem,” he added.