UP boy kills 70-year-old grandmother for refusing to give him Rs 2,600, sleeps next to body

The child's father had died 11 years ago, and Vidyavati Devi, a widow, fought against his mother in a Lucknow court for his custody. Soon, the mother also died. (Representational image: Unsplash)

A 14-year-old in Uttar Pradesh allegedly killed his 70-year-old grandmother after she refused his demand for Rs 2,600. The boy then slept beside the dead body throughout the night to evade suspicion, The Times of India reported.

The incident happened on the intervening night of May 21-22 in Malihabad's Mujaasa village. According to the police, the boy was an orphan, and his grandmother, Vidyavati Devi, barely managed to scrape enough money to raise him. The boy told the police he got violent because he had asked her for Rs 2,600 to pay for school fees, to buy some perfume, and for a party, but she refused to pay him.

"I didn't know Dadi was poorer than Baba. She refused money. When she pushed me, I got angry and choked her," he told the police, adding that he first strangled her and then smothered her with a pillow to ensure that she was dead. He then placed the body on the bed as if she were sleeping and lay beside her through the night, pretending everything was okay and even left for school the next day, telling a neighbour, "Dadi is unwell."

The matter came to light after Vidyavati Devi's daughter couldn't get through to her over the phone and asked a neighbour to check on her. The neighbour found the dead body and raised an alarm. The boy was nabbed when he returned from school, the publication reported.

The child's father had died 11 years ago, and Vidyavati Devi, a widow, fought against his mother in a Lucknow court for his custody. Soon, the mother also died. The grandmother raised the boy as her own. She had even opened a small grocery shop to support themselves.