Washington, March 26: A 20-year-old of Indian origin has been arrested on the charge of murdering his mother at their residence in the Great Falls area here.

Jayant Kadian has been charged with first-degree murder, police said. He has been described by the police as 6-ft-1 inch tall and 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

The body of his 52-year-old mother, Kiran, a prominent community worker, was discovered by her author and gastroenterologist husband, Rajesh, on Thursday. Jayant was missing from home.

He was found asleep in his car in a garage in the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, the police said today.

Sources said the accused had blood on his clothes when he was arrested.

The campus police also found marijuana in the car and arrested him on another charge of misdemeanour possession.

Court records show that Jayant was charged by the campus police on another occasion with possession of marijuana in September 2003 and that he failed to comply with probation conditions twice before the case was dismissed in the Rockingham county court in December 2004.

Fairfax police spokesperson Mary Mulrenan said Kiran had been stabbed several times in the upper part of her body.

Carter Simpson, a next-door neighbour, said ?there was a lot of tension in the family? and that the Kadians were trying to get Jayant help for his mental health.

Simpson described Kiran as ?a lovely woman?, and ?a very devoted mother?.

?She was very religious, spent a lot of time going back to India in the summers,? he said.

Rajesh has written books about India and its relations with Pakistan and has appeared on national talk shows and seminars. He has advocated for Indian causes on Capitol Hill and the state department.

The Kadians also have two daughters. Both are college graduates and do not live with their parents, but Jayant does.

The family has been living in the brick house on Thompson Ridge Court, just off Walker Road, since 1992. Investigators did not know till last night how long Kiran had been dead. The police also did not disclose where she was found in the house or whether there had been forced entry or a robbery.