delhi

Updated: May 26, 2017 11:12 IST

A 42-year-old man stabbed his mother to death in southwest Delhi’s Palam area on Wednesday morning. Police said that the accused, Rajiv Sharma, believed that his mother practised witchcraft and therefore killed her.

Sharma, who works as an MTNL operator, was later arrested by the police from his home. The incident came to light after a neighbour made a PCR call and complained that he had heard Sharma’s mother, Premlata (65) scream for help.

When a police team reached the spot, Premlata was lying bleeding on the ground and was unconscious. Sharma’s wife then helped police rush Premlata to a hospital, where she later succumbed during treatment. Sharma did not try to flee and was arrested , police said.

“A call was received saying that a man had allegedly stabbed his mother. The accused was arrested from his residence. A case of murder has been registered and the weapon used in the crime has also been seized,” DCP southwest, Surender Kumar said.

During questioning, Sharma told the police that he was frustrated with his mother’s ‘witchcraft activities’ and her meeting with occultists, which had started to affect his children. He told the police that he had warned her several times to not practice black magic at home but she had refused to pay heed. He confessed that on Wednesday, he had an altercation with her on the topic and then stabbed her in a fit of rage.

“Sharma said that Premlata had started involving his children while practising black magic which he did not approve of. He also said that Premlata was mentally ill and refused to listen to him. She had started visiting occultists to learn tricks and random people visited her at home, which further angered Sharma. He said that she had been involved in these activities for the past four years,” an investigator told HT.

He added that the victim had sustained one stab wound in the stomach and died during treatment. “It appears that she died of excessive blood loss but the cause of death will be ascertained after the autopsy report.”