A 37-year-old mentally ill man allegedly killed his 67-year-old mother by hitting her repeatedly with a stick that was used to wash clothes, in Dadar on Sunday evening. According to officials, he was depressed because he had not been married off.

According to police officials, accused Tejas Sanghvi and his mother Rekha were living together in Gopal Dham building, Ghokhale Road, in Dadar (west). His father is deceased and his three uncles were taking care of the family, which owns a clothing shop in Dadar. Tejas and his uncles used to look after the shop. He had stopped turning up at the shop a year prior to the incident.

He used to stay at home and whenever any guest or family member dropped in, he would hide in the bathroom.

Speaking about the Tejas, a relative said, “He stopped talking to us for the past one year. We went to counsel him many times, but he used to get angry and threw utensils or valuable objects on the floor. Tejas was depressed because no arrangements had been made for his marriage for seven years.”

Speaking about Tejas’ behaviour prior to the incident, a neighbour, Nilesh Vaidya, said, “We heard Rekha persuade him to work at the shop but he never heeded her and beat her twice. We had counselled him, but he was out of our control so we stopped doing it.”

The police, speaking about the incident, said, “In the accused’s statement, he told us that on the day of the incident Rekha was insisting that he work at the shop. He said that he was worried about his mother. He knew his behaviour was improper and that he was suffering from a disease. Tejas was worried about Rekha’s welfare after his death, so around 7 pm he hit her with the stick. Later, he tried to kill himself, but a neighbour intervened after hearing Rekha’s cries.”