The teenager smashed his elder brother's face with a rock after he could no longer stomach the daily abuse and beatings their mother suffered at his hands
Family members wait outside the MIDC police station, where the minor accused is now being held
A 17-year-old was arrested in Navi Mumbai for murdering his elder brother in order to protect his mother from his abusive attitude. According to the police, the deceased would frequently argue about property with his mother, and would thrash her under the influence of alcohol.
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Family members wait outside the MIDC police station, where the minor accused is now being held
Police inspector Chandrakant Katkar from MIDC police station said Sujeet wanted ownership of the family’s property. The family used to live in a flat in Shivaji Nagar, which they sold after their father died of tuberculosis in 2007.
Their mother then bought four rooms in a Nerul chawl under her name, but the eldest son had always had his eye on the property. On Wednesday night, the deceased brother, Sujeet Sunil Shinde (19) came home at 9.30 pm and started beating her again.
Angered by the daily thrashings, the accused stopped the argument and asked the mother to go to the bedroom. Later, when everyone was asleep, he took a rock and smashed Sujeet’s face with it, and then went back to sleep in another room.
The next morning, there was a furore when Sujeet was discovered dead, and the accused fled to his uncle’s house in Govandi. The MIDC police eventually found him there and he confessed to the crime.
He was booked under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code after he admitted the murder. His uncle, however, said that the family was not aware of the crime until the accused was taken to the police station.
“We weren’t aware about the incident. After we came to the police station we learnt about the incident and we didn’t even get a chance to speak to the boys’ mother, as the police were still questioning her,” said the uncle, requesting anonymity.