A 32-year-old man, suffering from a mental ailment, killed his father and injured two other family members at their residence in Laxmi Garden, near Gurugram Sector 11, as he felt that they didn’t care for him and had cast a spell on him, the police said. He was arrested from his house shortly after the incident on Monday.
The man is alleged to have slit his father’s throat, besides attacking his mother and younger brother.
The arrested man, Rishabh Mehta, has been suffering from a mental health problem for more than 15 years, the police said. His father, Sushil Mehta, 65, succumbed to the injuries while his mother, Chander Mehta, is undergoing treatment at AIIMS Trauma Centre in Delhi and is reported to be critical.
His younger brother, Mayank, 31, sustained cuts to his face and fingers. Police said that the family owned a caster wheel manufacturing factory in Kadipur village, which was shut around a year ago.
According to the police, Mayank told them that at 6pm, the four family members were in the house when Rishabh had an altercation with his parents.
Subhash Boken, police spokesperson, said that around 7.15pm, enraged by the argument, Rishabh attacked his mother with a kitchen knife and stabbed her at least twice in the neck. “When his father tried to intervene, he allegedly attacked him too and slit his throat. Meanwhile, the mother ran out of the house, to a relative’s house in the neighbourhood, to seek help,” said Boken.
In the police complaint, Mayank said that he was in the market when he received a phone call from his uncle, Jawahar Lal, asking him to rush home. “When I reached, I saw my father lying on the floor with injuries to his neck. My brother then charged at me with a knife. In the scuffle, I sustained a minor bruise to the face and a cut to the middle finger of my right hand,” he said in the complaint.
He added that he later took his mother to the Civil Hospital in Sector 10 for treatment, while the police rushed his father to the same hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Ajit, assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Shivaji Nagar police station, who is the investigating official in the case, said that Rishabh told the police that he had a grouse against his parents for taking him to the hospital repeatedly for treatment. “He had heated arguments with them on a regular basis. He also used to beat his parents and frequently disagree with them over issues related to medication.”
Police said that according to him, his parents did not “love him enough in comparison to the other children in the family and that is why he attacked them.”
A police official privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said that he thought that his parents had cast a spell on him.
ASI Ajit said that as the accused has a stocky build, he was able to overpower his father and the neighbours were not able to get hold of him easily.
Neighbours said that they were scared to confront him as he was holding a knife. “He kept attacking his father even after he had collapsed. When his brother tried to stop him and rescue his father, he attacked him as well. Someone from the neighbourhood then came with a stick and scared him off. We locked him in a room until the police came,” Umesh, a neighbour, said.
Mukesh Kumar, assistant commissioner of police (city), said, “Rishabh was arrested from the scene of the crime. Police are investigating the case.”
A case was registered against the suspect under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Shivaji Nagar police station late Monday. He was produced before a district court on Tuesday and lodged in judicial custody.
Sushil’s body was handed over to his family members after a post-mortem examination on Tuesday. Dr Deepak Mathur, forensic expert, Civil Hospital, said, “There was a long and deep cut on the deceased’s throat. A sharp object was used at least twice to make the cut at the same spot.”
