An alcoholic man killed his 16-year-old son on Thursday for refusing to part with money received from a relative for studies.

Ramdhani Patel (35), a daily wager and habitual drinker, was running short of money and was also upset over the unavailability of alcohol for the past couple of weeks. He had quarrelled with his wife, who had refused to give him money for his drink. The family lives in Ramnagar Samodhi Tola under the jurisdiction of Riga police station, around 140km north of Patna.

Police said Ramdhani attacked his son, Chandan Kumar, with an axe around 8pm when the boy was studying on the verandah of the house.

The father was angry after Chandan refused to hand over money his maternal uncle had sent to pay for his tuition fees.

"Ramdhani is absconding after the incident," said Nafis Ahmed, Righa police station house officer (SHO).

Chandan's shocked Roshani (13), told the police that her father became furious after he came to know that Chandan had given the money to his tutor instead of giving it to his father to drink.

The police registered an FIR against Ramdhani on the statement of Chandan's uncle Shambhu Patel, who corroborated the charge against Ramdhani and demanded his immediate arrest.

Ramdhani had also threatened to kill other family members.

The SHO said raids were conducted on Friday at different hideouts to nab the culprit, who was absconding after the murder. The boy's body was handed over to the relatives after post-mortem at the local sadar hospital.

Residents told the police that Ramdhani was facing difficulties after imposition of total prohibition in the state.

"The family, instead of admitting him to a rehabilitation centre, left him to fend for himself," a resident said. "This proved a costly mistake and he murdered his son."