Mangaluru: An alert by the doctors of  K S Hegde Medical College has helped Dakshina Kannada district police detect a seeming case of unnatural death as one of patricide. Personnel of Bellare police station have arrested Kumara, 24, in connection with the death of his father, Babu, 55, on Monday. The incident took place at Pattaje House in Bellare village of Sullia taluk on February 18 and Vimala, his wife, approached the police seeking possession of his body to conduct the final rites.

Vimala who said the incident took place on February 18, moved the police a day later, seeking legal possession of the body. Police registered a case of unnatural death report (05/2017) under section 174(c) of CrPC and sent the body to the medical college for postmortem. Doctors who conducted the autopsy, observed assault marks on the hands and legs caused by an unknown weapon and put down the same in their report, additional SP C B Vedamurthy said.

A further complaint by Sundara, brother of the deceased expressing doubt at the demise of Babu, also spurred the police into undertaking further investigation. Sundara told police that there was an altercation between his brother and his family members and there were wound marks on other parts of his body as well. Based on his complaint, Bellare police subsequently registered a case of murder (35/2017) under section 302 of IPC, Vedamurthy added.

During the investigation, police came to know that Kumara had an altercation with his father, who as usual, had come home drunk and assaulted Babu with a rod. Babu succumbed to the blows on the spot. Police who secured Kumar from Bellare town, subjected him to intense questioning and he confessed to the crime, Vedamurthy said. The accused was produced before the jurisdictional court that remanded him into judicial custody for 15 days.