16-year-old kills grandmother after she denies him money to place bets in Delhi

16-year-old boy kills grandmother with hammer over money for online betting, arrested at scene. Boy lost ₹2 lakh in online betting, stole family's gold.

A 16-year-old boy allegedly killed his 65-year-old grandmother with a hammer at their house in Tughlakabad on Saturday after she refused to give him more money for online betting, police said on Monday, adding that the suspect was apprehended from the spot after the horrific murder.

Police said that the boy allegedly stole and sold off his family’s gold to get money for betting in a bid to help his family, which was struggling financially. (Representational image)

The minor was produced before a court and sent to an observation home, police said. Police said that the boy allegedly stole and sold his family’s gold to get money for betting.

“Investigation has revealed that the boy had lost ₹2lakh while playing games online. On Saturday, he asked his grandmother for money and when she refused, he hit her several times with a hammer,” said deputy commissioner of police (south east) Rajesh Deo.

Police said that their control room received a call at 1pm on Saturday from a man saying that a woman related to him was lying injured in a house in Tughlakabad Extension.

When police reached the spot, they found the woman lying in a pool of blood on the ground floor of her house. She was taken to AIIMS where she was declared dead.

Police questioned the victim’s family. Her 17-year-old granddaughter told police that she returned home at 1pm, but no one opened the door despite her ringing the bell several times. “The first-floor tenants opened the main door. She entered the ground floor house and spotted her brother washing his bloodstained shirt. He said he was getting ready to go to school for the evening shift, but had come to meet their grandmother, and that his shirt got blood stains on it after he was scratched by their grandmother’s bangles,” said an investigator. Police said that the boy had come to the ground floor house around 12.15pm.

The girl went to the third floor and told their mother about the blood, said police. The mother ran downstairs and saw the elderly woman lying dead in her room, said police.

Police said that the 16-year-old boy was apprehended from the spot and the murder weapon was recovered.

The suspect’s 47-year-old father told HT that he was unemployed for the last two months due to ill health, and had a strained relationship with his parents because they were not helping his family financially for the last six months. He told HT that his son found online betting as a way to help them financially but he lost all their savings.

“After Class 10 exams this year, he started using an app to place bets and earn money. He made some money initially but eventually, he started losing. We gave him money to bear the losses and told him to stop betting but he didn’t listen...We suspect that he also sold our gold,” the father said.

According to the father, the minor lost ₹2 lakh in online betting, which was his and his wife’s emergency savings in their bank accounts.

The father said that the suspect often asked his grandmother for money, and she gave him money the last two times but refused on Saturday. “He was already upset with her because my parents had cut us off financially and he blamed them for our poor condition,” the father said.