A woman killed her father-in-law by beating him repeatedly with his stick at their house in Banethi village of Nahan in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district over some domestic dispute, the police said today.
An FIR under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the accused woman at Nahan police station and she was arrested, they said.
The woman had murdered her aged father-in-law last night but the police came to know about the incident only this morning when the victim's son informed them, Sirmaur Superintendent of Police Rohit Malpani told.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Sirmaur, Virendra Thakur said the woman, Pratima (30), had battered to death her father-in-law Kishan Chand (75), a retired public works department (PWD) employee, with his stick last night. After killing him, the woman closed the door of his room and went to bed, he added.
The victim's son Dhanvir, who is a driver, reached home after work late in the night yesterday and went to his room to sleep, Mr Thakur said.
When he woke up this morning, he asked his wife about his father to which she asked him to go to his father's room and see him, the police official said.
After entering the room, he found his father's body lying in a pool of blood on his cot following which he informed the police about the incident, Mr Thakur added.
Dhanvir's four-and-a-half-year old son Naveen told the police that his mother had killed his grandfather by beating him with his stick.
Subsequently, Pratima also confessed to killing her father-in-law in a fit of rage, he said.
Their neighbours also told the police that she had thrashed her father-in-law earlier too on at least three different occasions.
Prima facie Kishan Chand died of head injuries, Mr Thakur said, adding the exact cause of death would be ascertained only after autopsy.