A Delhi court sentenced a 70-year -old man to life imprisonment for killing his son in 2012, while observing that the convict committed the crime due his son's "torturous behaviour" towards him and his wife.
The court held Delhi-based Sita Ram guilty of killing his son, Naresh Kumar, and convicted him for the offence under IPC section 302 (murder). It also imposed a fine of Rs 500 on him.
"Naresh's torturous behaviour towards his parents had given birth to a feeling in the heart of the accused (Ram) (to close) the chapter of day-to-day problems and get rid of the same by killing Naresh... as Naresh used to demand money from his parents to satisfy his bad habits of consuming liquor and ganja," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Kumar Goyal said.
During trial, it emerged that Naresh used to beat up his parents for money to consume liquor and drugs.
"It is proved that on the day of the crime Naresh Kumar came to know that his mother had money, which he demanded and on not getting it, he had beaten her up... So in such circumstances, accused Sita Ram had a motive to commit murder of Naresh Kumar," the court said.
According to the police, on the night of June 18, 2012 they reached the house of Ram at Haiderpur here and found the body of Naresh lying inside the room.
During the probe, police came to know about involvement of Ram in the offence and thereafter he surrendered before investigators. The police said Naresh had suffered fatal head injuries.
It further said that Ram, a labourer, was not happy with his son as he used to consume liquor and drugs and was not doing any work.
The court, in its judgement, relied upon circumstantial evidence while convicting Ram and observed that on the night of the incident he was there in his house along with his wife and Naresh, whose body was found in the home on the same day.
"In the night of incident, accused (Ram) was present with his wife and his son in the house so it was his burden to explain under section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act as to how Naresh had died, which has not been explained in any manner," the court observed, and said police has successfully completed the chain of circumstantial evidence against the convict.
During the proceedings, the accused had claimed that he was innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case.
"In view of the above, prosecution has able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that accused Sita Ram has committed offence under section 302 (murder) of the IPC for which he is held guilty and convicted for the same," the court said.