Seven-year-old Yashwant (name changed) has not just lost his mother, but is the sole witness to her murder —allegedly by his father.
“Papa tied a dupatta around her neck and hanged her,” the boy told his grandmother on Sunday after his mother’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in their Charkop house. When this reporter spoke to Yashwant on Monday, he said his father Premnath Khatare (40) — who owns a garage — would hit his mother Geeta (34) often. Things came to a head on Sunday when his father was about to leave for the garage.
“Mom insisted she would go with him and they had an argument. He then asked her to give him Rs 500. When she gave him money, he threw it away, pulled out the iron chain he uses as his bike’s key chain and strangled her till she was unconscious,” the Class 4 student said tearfully. “He then brought an onion and tried to revive her but she didn’t get up.”
“He hit me when I started crying and told me to go inside. But I peeped through the window and saw papa hanging her on the fan after climbing on the centre table,” Yashwant said, crying as he looked at his mom’s body.
According to him, his dad shouted for help after he hanged her. “Neighbours came and called the police,” he said.
The police have registered a case of unnatural death. “Premnath told us he was in his room on the first floor when he heard Geeta’s cries and came down to see her hanging. We have called him and the neighbours for questioning,” said PS Gawande, senior police inspector of Charkop police station.
{{/usCountry}}The police have registered a case of unnatural death. “Premnath told us he was in his room on the first floor when he heard Geeta’s cries and came down to see her hanging. We have called him and the neighbours for questioning,” said PS Gawande, senior police inspector of Charkop police station.
{{/usCountry}}The police are waiting for the post-mortem report to establish if Geeta died of strangulation or by hanging.