Representative image showing a crime scene.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: A 47-year-old man in southern Bengaluru was arrested for fatally assaulting his minor son, police officials said on Saturday. The arrested suspect is Ravikumar, a resident of Yalachenahalli, who worked as a carpenter.
"It doesn't matter if a son like you lives or dies", Ravikumar said, as per the FIR, before assaulting Tejas which led to severe internal injuries. The Kumaraswamy Layout police have invoked BNS Sections 103 (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence).
Senior police officers said that Ravikumar was allegedly angry with Tejas, 14, as he lagged in studies, hung out a lot with his friends and used mobile phone frequently.
According to the police, at around 8 am on Friday, after an argument, Ravikumar, who was reportedly drunk, hit Tejas, a Class 9 student, twice on his back and then on his limbs with a cricket bat lying in the house and smashed his head on the wall. Tejas collapsed on the ground.
Shashikala B, Tejas’ mother and the complainant, left the house thinking it was a daily ordeal. Tejas had an older sibling who was away at the time.
“The previous night, after dinner, Tejas fought with me demanding to repair his mobile phone,” Shashikala told the police as per the FIR. “I told him that if he went to school I would have it looked at. Even my husband told him to not spoil his life. Despite this, Tejas hit me and abused me. I then went and sat near a temple.”
Shashikala returned the following morning only to find her husband and son quarrelling. After going to the temple again following the assault, she returned in the afternoon only to see Tejas breathing difficulty. “His friend Kishore was at our house. Both of us took Tejas to the hospital at around 3 pm, where he was declared dead,” she told the police.
She also alleged that Ravikumar, when he learned about Tejas’ death, had disposed of the cricket bat that he used during the fatal assault and tried to cover up.
Late in the afternoon, the Kumaraswamy Layout police received an alert that a young boy had died and his parents were preparing the last rites.
“A team was immediately dispatched. They intervened and when they found out about the incident, secured Ravikumar,” a senior police officer said. “He was produced before the court on Saturday and remanded in judicial custody.”