mumbai

Updated: Dec 01, 2018 09:41 IST

After murdering his 80-year-old mother, Borivli resident Yogesh Shenoy sat with her body for more than seven hours before turning himself in to the police on Thursday morning. Shenoy, 53, has confessed to the crime and been booked for murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

The police believe Shenoy may have been driven to murder because of financial stress and the tension of being his mother’s caregiver. Senior police inspector of MHB Colony police station Pandit Thakare said, “The murder took place because of the constant fights with his mother and due to her medical fees, which he was unable to manage.”

Two months ago, Shenoy left his job as an accountant at a hotel to take care of his mother, Lalita. The 80-year-old was a blood pressure and spondylosis patient. The two of them lived together in a chawl in Borivli. Shenoy is estranged from his wife, and his father and brother passed away a few years ago. Neighbours remember the mother and son as being devoted to one another. Shenoy’s landlord Darshana Ghone told HT, “They have been my tenants for decades now. They did not interact much with anyone in the neighbourhood.”

The police said Shenoy has been short of money and not paid rent (₹35 a month) for the past two years. He was also not able to afford Lalita’s medicines.

According to Shenoy’s confession to the police, on Thursday at around 2am, Shenoy fed Lalita a high dosage of sleeping pills, hoping this would kill her. He then smothered her with a pillow. When Lalita survived both these attempts, Shenoy slit her throat with a paper cutter. Having killed her, Shenoy sat next to her dead body until 9.30am, when he called the police control room to turn himself in. He told the police that he did not know what else to do. Shenoy is in police custody.