Delhi woman accused of beating mom-in-law to death with pressure cooker

In India's capital New Delhi, an 86-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death by her daughter-in-law after the former refused to shift to an old-age care home. The incident reportedly took place last month when the accused woman, identified as Sarmishta Som (48) allegedly beat her mother-in-law Harshi Som (86) to death with a pressure cooker.

"The daughter-in-law had a long-standing frustration with taking care of the elderly woman. She was fed up of cooking for her, serving her meals and helping her with her daily chores," Chandan Chaudhary, deputy commissioner of police in the south district of Delhi, told Hindustan Times.

The police official reportedly added that there was no immediate trigger for the murder.

Harshi was found dead on April 28 with multiple injuries to her face and skull inside her one-bedroom apartment at Neb Sarai in south Delhi, the police further told the paper.

How the case unfolded?

The police were informed about the suspected murder by the deceased's son Surjit Som (51). Upon investigation, it was revealed that the husband and wife used to live in a flat right opposite the deceased woman's one-bedroom flat.

According to police, she earlier used to live with them and their 16-year-old daughter.However, the wife wanted her to be shifted to an old-age home as she needed a lot of care and attention. While the son, who works with an advertising agency, wanted to live close to his mother, he decided to shift her to the nearby flat to look after her, police said.

ALSO WATCH |WION Dispatch: Delhi police solve six-month-old murder case

He had also installed a CCTV camera inside the room to keep watch over his mother, who suffered from arthritis and faced mobility issues.

Probe found that Sarmishta, a homemaker, would often quarrel with her husband to send his mother back to Kolkata, where the family hailed from, police said.

"The family belongs to Kolkata. Harshi lived in Kolkata until March 2022 when her son brought her to Delhi to take care of her. Surjit housed his mother in a rented one-bedroom apartment right in front of his flat," the police official told Hindustan Times. "Surjit told us that his mother suffered from arthritis. Last October, he told us, his mother fell in the washroom of his flat due to the build of the house, due to which he moved her to a nearby flat where the washroom and kitchen were easily accessible to her."

The son reportedly used to keep a watch on her mother's movements through the camera feed.

The son further told the police that on the day of his mother’s death, the camera was not working due to a power failure. But later, the police managed to access the CCTV footage.

"The footage showed the accused entering the deceased’s flat at around 10:30 am on March 28. She was carrying a pressure cooker and went behind her mother-in-law to the kitchen, which was not captured by the CCTV. Thereafter, the sounds of the victim’s screams could be heard in the audio of the footage. Later, the woman was seen on CCTV cleaning the pressure cooker with a cloth," the police official told Hindustan Times.

The police also found that "injuries caused to the victim were not possible under normal circumstances", according to Hindustan Times.

On Monday, the final autopsy report arrived, which revealed that the deceased had sustained 14 injuries. Later, as it was revealed that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law did not share a cordial relationship, police began interrogating the accused.

Following this, the police lodged a murder case against Sharmishta at the Neb Sarai police station.

According to the DCP, while the actual crime was not caught on camera as it took place in the kitchen, there was enough evidence even in the footage to implicate Sharmishta, who was subsequently arrested the next day.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE