29-year-old batters ailing mother, locks her up to die

PUNE: The Pimpri police, on Thursday, arrested a 29-year-old man, for allegedly beating up his 50-year-old ailing mother and locking her up in his rented flat at Pimprigaon, which resulted in her death a month ago.

The incident had come to light on March 16, after the decomposed body of Kalpana alias Gauri Sundarlal Yadav was found inside the house. Kalpana’s son Gopal, who was untraceable since then, was arrested in Kolhapur, on Thursday. The Pimpri police team led by senior inspector Mohan Vidhate made the arrest.

Vidhate told TOI that Gopal, his wife, son and mother had been living in a rented flat in Shridhan apartment in Pimprigaon for the last few years. His mother was not well and was undergoing medical treatment. “In the last week of February, Gopal locked his flat from outside and left the city along with his wife and son,” Vidhate said.

On March 16, residents of Shridhan society got suspicious when a foul smell started emanating from Yadav’s flat and informed the police. “When our team broke open the door, we found the decomposed body of Kalpana on a bed,” Vidhate said adding, “Her son Gopal was untraceable.”

According to the postmortem, Kalpana had received severe injuries on her head and one of her ribs was broken. “We then registered an offence of murder against her son,” said Vidhate.

Police investigations revealed that the Yadavs earlier lived in Kalewadi in their own house. Gopal, who worked as a driver, had taken a loan from some people. “He had to sell his house in Kalewadi to repay the loan. They then moved to the rented flat in Pimprigaon,” Vidhate said.

During investigations, the police got a tip-off that Gopal was working as a driver in Kolhapur. “We laid a trap and nabbed him on Thursday,” Vidhate said.

Vidhate said that during the interrogation Gopal revealed that he had left the city on February 26 as the people who had loaned him money had started calling him, asking him to return it.

“Gopal claimed that he had locked his mother inside the house as she was not well. We, however, suspect that Gopal may have beaten his mother and locked her inside the flat,” Vidhate said.

The suspect was produced before the court on Friday and remanded to police custody for five days. “We are investigating further,” Vidhate said.