After strangling her mother, the girl tried to pass it off as an accidental death (Representational)
A 15-year-old girl allegedly strangled her mother to death with a karate belt after being scolded over her studies in Navi Mumbai, police said on Tuesday. The girl later tried to pass it off as a case of accidental death, they said.
The incident took place at their home in Airoli area of Navi Mumbai township on July 30.
The girl's parents wanted her to become a doctor and had enrolled her for the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) classes. But, the girl did not want to pursue a medical course and because of this she and her 40-year-old mother used to have frequent quarrels, an official at Rabale police station told news agency Press Trust of India.
On July 27, the girl's father had scolded her for playing with her mobile phone, following which she left the house and went to her uncle's place nearby.
The official said her mother went there and called her back, after which the girl told her she was fed up of the harassment over studies and would go to police station to file a complaint against her parents.
The woman then took her daughter to a police station where the police personnel counselled both of them, he said.
On July 30, the woman again scolded the girl over the issue of her studies. During their fight, the woman allegedly threatened the girl with a knife, the official told news agency Press Trust of India.
The girl then pushed her mother, following which the woman fell and injured her head from the corner of a cot.
The woman, who was in a semi-conscious state, tried to grab a karate belt lying nearby. On seeing that, the girl grabbed the belt and allegedly strangled her mother to death with it, the official said.
The girl later sent a WhatsApp message to her father and uncle from her mother's phone, saying "I tried everything I quit", according to the police.
She then locked the house and managed to go outside. She then called her father over phone and told him that her mother was not opening the door.
Her father informed her uncle who went to their house. He broke open the door and found the woman lying dead on the bed with the karate belt around her neck, the official said.
The police doubted the girl's version, he said, adding that they sent the body for a forensic test and the report revealed that the woman died due to the head injury and being strangled.
During questioning of the family members, the police suspected the girl's role in the incident, he told Press Trust of India.
"We took her into confidence and she narrated what happened (the sequence of events)," the official said.
The teenager was detained on Monday and a case was registered under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder), he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)