Police on Saturday claimed to have solved the sensational double murder of a woman and her 11-year-old daughter after tracing her 15-year-old son who they said has confessed to killing them with a pair of scissors and a pizza cutter because he was scolded and beaten up at home over a minor issue.
But police believe he could not have committed the crime over the scolding on that particular day, but it could have been due to a series of events building up to it.
The juvenile, who was addicted a video game ‘High School Gangster’ and was the prime suspect in the December 4 double murder, was traced in Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, he had made a call to his father from Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh, where police could not locate him, Senior Superintendent of Noida Police Luv Kumar told the media here.
The 42-year-old mother and her daughter were found murdered in the 1446, A Block flat of 11th Avenue of Gaur City in Greater Noida West on Tuesday night. Their bodies with bloody injuries were found in the bedroom of their house. The boy is a student of Class 11.
The father was in Gujarat on business when the crime took place. The possibility of another person involved in the crime is ruled out, the police said.
Recounting the version of the chilling crime as given by the boy in the presence of his family members, Kumar said the boy kept hitting his mother’s head and face with a cricket bat and later used a pair of small scissors and then a pizza cutter to attack her, which caused her death.
He thought his sister was waking up or could wake up and become a witness to the crime. So, he killed her as well.
The boy changed his blood stained clothes, left them on the spot and put the cash available at home in a bag and left. CCTV footage showed the boy with his mother and sister taking the lift on Monday night at 8.19 p.m., with food brought from outside, and the boy leaving the apartment at 11.23 p.m., walking past the security guard.
He told police that soon after the crime he carefully went to the building’s basement through the lift to save himself from the prying eyes of guards.
The juvenile then came out and took a taxi to New Delhi Railway Station from where he travelled to Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Shimla, and Chandigarh again, then to Ranchi and then to Mughalsarai from where he was detained after a phone call he made to his father was traced.
“He left the house in confusion and kept travelling from one place to the other as he didn’t realise what to do.”
“He started missing his family and made a call to the father. He didn’t speak much, cried a little and hung up,” the officer said.
A return call made on the number got the response that a boy had borrowed the phone to make a call and left the place.
“We need to verify the chronology of his travels. This is his version,” the officer said.
He said the boy spent money as much as he could understand and probably missed the bag containing the cash in one of the trains from which he had got down in a hurry. He perhaps travelled without tickets.
Kumar said the case showed how difficult it was to understand the psychology of a child, who was under severe stress. The night when he committed the crime, he said he couldn’t sleep.
“When troubled, the logic of a person fails and one ends up doing something without thinking much.
“In the afternoon, his mother had scolded him and beaten him up after he was adamant and persisted on sitting on the couch and not the chair near the dining table to study,” said Kumar.
Kumar felt that this minor issue could not have led to the child committing such a heinous crime but a series of events could have “compelled” him to do so.
He said that multiple things like his mother’s constant pressure and his weakness in studies could have made him feel frustrated and distressed.
“He felt his sibling got more attention in the family. He was perhaps weak in studies and was constantly pressurised to study in which he didn’t show interest.”
“The boy was addicted to playing ‘High School Gangster’ game on the phone which was taken away from him by his mother. He used to stealthily take his mother’s phone to play the game.”
The behaviour of the child, as outlined by the school, was not objectionable. There hadn’t been any serious complaints against him. “Mischief is a different thing altogether,” said Kumar.
“The boy is surely regretful about what he did. He was crying during the interrogation. What else can he do now?”, the SSP said.