Mumbai: A 60-year-old man hacked his son to death with a sickle at their residence in Powai late on Monday. Police said Gulab Galande was allegedly fed up of being harassed by his son Harish, 40, who was a railway constable and an alcoholic.
Harish returned home inebriated every night and regularly created a ruckus. On Monday night, Harish threw a bottle at Gulab when the latter intervened to stop him from assaulting his wife. Gulab was arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for murder.
According to police, Harish stayed with his wife, kids and his parents at Ganesh Nagar near Panchkutir in Powai. Harish was attached to the Andheri Railway Police.
A few years ago, he had hit a rough patch financially and hit the bottle regularly after that. Since then, every time Harish came home drunk, he would assault his wife or parents and disrupt the peace.
On Monday, around 11pm, Harish came home drunk and had an altercation with his wife, which soon took a violent turn. In a bid to avoid any untoward happening, Gulab tried to intervene, only to find his son swinging a liquor bottle at him.
He fended off the attack but in a fit of rage, picked up a sickle and hit Harish on the head. Harish fell but Gulab continued to hit him with the sickle on his stomach, arms and face till he bled to death, while the rest of the family stood around in stunned silence, said police.
Police control room was informed about the incident and a team from Powai police station was rushed to the spot. When they took Harish to a nearby hospital, he was declared dead before arrival, said Ankit Goyal, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 10).
Powai Police immediately arrested Gulab and booked him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for murder (section 302).
Gulab, a former policeman and was disappointed by his son's behaviour, police said. They have recovered the murder weapon and sent it to a forensic lab for testing.
