A 35-year-old man allegedly beat his 60-year-old mother to death on Thursday night with a cricket bat in Shekhu village of this district. Police suspect that accused Harmail Singh murdered his mother Sukhdev Kaur over an acre of land, to which he was seeking a claim.The quantum of serious injuries sparked a wave of anger among the villagers. “Her knee joints and arm joints were brutally broken. Not even an enemy could have committed such a heinous murder,” Balwinder Singh, husband of village sarpanch Harvinder Kaur, told The Indian Express. Enquiries reveal that the family had about 10 acres, out of which two acres had been willed in the name of Sukhdev Kaur by her husband Jarnail Singh, who passed away about 13 years back.According to inquiry officer Mohan Singh, the deceased lived with her younger son Gurjant Singh and had given her share of land to him for farming. The inquiry officer said Harmail Singh had on several occasions staked a claim to one acre out of that land and was upset at being denied by his mother.It is learnt that Harmail picked up a brawl with his wife a few days back. His wife left for her parents’ house and left her two children — a daughter studying in Class VI and a son — with their father. Sukhdev Kaur had come to Harmail’s house on Thursday evening to take care of the children, police said, adding that Harmail, who had been consuming alcohol all day long, murdered his mother at night. The matter came to the notice of the police in the morning, said the inquiry officer. “Besides injuries caused by a cricket bat, the deceased also had injuries inflicted by a knife, which was also recovered from near her body,” Mohan said.Harmail told his children not to raise an alarm and threatened to kill them too, claimed Balwinder Singh, adding that the police were informed after the matter came to light in the morning. Police have registered a case of murder against Harmail, who is absconding.
