Santacruz resident arrested for killing 17-year-old son over drinking habit

44-year-old Dinesh Gupta arrested for stabbing his 17-year-old son to death after a fight over the son coming home drunk in Mumbai.

Mumbai: The Vakola police have arrested a 44-year-old resident of Santacruz East for allegedly stabbing his 17-year-old son to death with a kitchen knife after a fight over the latter coming home drunk late on Sunday evening.

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According to the police, the deceased, Alok Gupta, and the accused, Dinesh Gupta, 44, would often fight on days when Dinesh came home in an inebriated state. Sunday evening was no different, as Dinesh was drunk when he returned to the family’s home in Durga Mata Chawl in Santacruz East. During their fight that day, the accused retrieved a knife from the kitchen and stabbed his son in the stomach, the police said.

Alok’s elder sister, Priti, 19, told the police that their father had returned home around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. “At the time, Alok was listening to songs on TV at a loud volume. After he entered the house, Dinesh started abusing his son over their previous argument, asking the boy how he could argue with his father. Both Alok and I were trying to calm our father down. He would be quiet for a while but resumed screaming after a while,” she told the police.

Sometime later, Priti went to the kitchen to cook dinner, warning her father not to scream until she cooked. However, Dinesh started yelling again within minutes, hurling abuse at his son. “Soon, Alok lost his cool and asked his father to shut up. Dinesh, who was already upset about the disrespectful way his older son spoke to him, rushed into the kitchen, picked up a knife, and dashed towards where Alok was sitting,” an officer from Vakola police said.

Priti told the police she went behind her father to intervene, but he pushed her away. Dinesh then stabbed Alok with the knife. Priti started screaming for help, after which some neighbours came and helped her take her brother to a hospital. Dinesh also helped lift and bring Alok downstairs. Alok was, however, declared dead upon arrival.

On Monday, Priti gave her statement to the police, after which Dinesh was booked under sections 302 (murder) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. Dinesh was produced in court on Tuesday morning and was remanded to police custody.