50-year-old kills mother over land dispute, held

For a small share of property, a 50-year-old man killed his mother, set her ablaze and dumped the charred body at an agricultural field in Outer Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy area on February 27. Three days later, based on the bangles found on the body of the deceased woman, her daughter identified the body.

The accused, identified as Anil Kumar, was arrested on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Jamna Devi.

A senior police officer said the incident took place on February 27. The matter was reported to police on February 28 when the land owner spotted a semi-burnt body of a woman and made a call to police.

“Over past few years, Anil had a dispute with his mother over a 150-yard piece of land. He used to live a few metres away from his mother’s house in the Metro Vihar. On February 27, Anil had a heated argument with his mother and choked his mother to death. After killing his mother, Anil took the body to a nearby farm where he tried to set it alight but left it half burned, suspecting that he will be caught by someone,” said a senior police officer.

On March 1, it was only when the farm owner spotted the body of the elderly woman that he informed the local police.

The police officer said, “The body was kept at the mortuary and posters were pasted across the area. It was on March 2 that the daughter of the deceased came to the mortuary.

“Since the body was severely burnt and her face unrecognisable, it was through gold bangles on the wrist of charred body she identified her mother,” said police.

Police added that on further questioning, the woman told police how her mother used to have quarrel with her brother, Anil over a piece of land. On questioning Anil, he broke down and confessed to killing his mother.

He told police that a case pertaining to the land was pending in the court and on the day of the mother, he went to his mother’s house to ask her to give the land but she blatantly refused.