In a shocking incident in Karnataka’s Belagavi, a 21-year-old youth was arrested for allegedly killing his father for refusing money to recharge his mobile phone plan to play the addictive PUBG Mobile, police said on Monday.
“The gruesome murder took place earlier in the day when accused K. Raghuveer attacked his father K. Shankarappa, 62, with a kitchen knife, slitting his throat, chopping his hands and legs in a fit of rage at home for allegedly refusing him money to recharge his mobile phone for playing PUBG, to which was addicted,” Belagavi city police commissioner B.S. Lokesk Kumar told IANS in Belgavi.
Belagavi is about 500km north-west of the southern state’s capital Bengaluru.
Police booked Raghuveer, an unemployed diploma holder in electrical engineering, under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the alleged murder and a local court remanded him in 14-judicial custody for investigation.
The victim (Shankarappa) was a retired Assistant Reserved Sub Inspector and a resident of Katti suburb in the city’s outskirts. The accused was his only progeny.
According to the first information report (FIR), the accused pushed his mother out of the room after a heated argument with the father, who confiscated the mobile and refused to pay him to recharge it.
“Raghuveer bolted the room and brutally assaulted Shankarappa with the long knife, used for de-husking coconuts. Neighbours rushed to the house when they heard his mother crying and screaming over the gory incident,” recalled Kumar.
On alerting, the police went to the house and arrested the accused.
“A bleeding Shankarappa was rushed to the state-run hospital to save his life but doctors on duty declared him brought dead,” said Kumar.
“We are searching for the weapon used in the crime as it was not found in the room or house after the incident,” added Kumar.
PUBG Mobile is a popular mobile battle royale game, developed by Tencent Games. PUBG stands for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which was the name of the game made available for the PC and console platform.