KALABURAGI: Angered by his parents’ refusal to buy him a smartphone, a 16-year-old pushed his younger brother into a well and jumped after him in Bhusanur village in Kalaburagi district. While the 12-year-old did not know how to swim and drowned, the older one, known to be a good swimmer, tied a bag of stones to his waist before plunging in.
The incident occurred on Sunday evening, hours after Sunil Tulasiram Maratha asked his parents to buy him a mobile phone with a touchscreen.
One of them had epilepsy
Family members said Sunil had dropped out of school while his brother, Shekhar, was a student of Class 6.
The family of six, including two older children in their 20s, own a small piece of land and work as farm labourers. Villagers said despite their hardship, they took special care of Sunil as he suffered from epilepsy and tried to fulfil his demands. On Sunday afternoon, Sunil kept pestering his parents to buy him the phone and as the argument grew, they agreed to buy him a keypad smartphone but he refused to relent. Family sources said Sunil was further upset when they told him he might lose a touchscreen phone since he frequently suffered from epileptic bouts.
Soon after, both brothers went out to relieve themselves and Sunil pushed Shekhar into a well on the outskirts of the village in Aland taluk. The younger boy did not know to swim and tried to resist his brother, but in vain, police said.
Villagers said Sunil was known as a proficient swimmer but made sure he would not survive by tying a bag of stones to his waist. It was only on Monday afternoon that the boys’ chappals were found near the well. A case was registered at Nimbaraga police station.