Bhubaneswar, Oct. 1: A 20-year-old youth was arrested today for killing his mother in the wee hours by crushing her head with a stone at Kedarpalli of Bapuji Nagar. The youth’s family claimed that he was mentally ill and had been undergoing treatment.

The youth, Tukuna Nayak, was arrested from near Mousima park. The accused had been staying at Kedarpalli with his parents and four siblings for the last one month.

Tukuna killed his mother, 45-year-old Souri Nayak while she was asleep in the house. The Nayak’s neighbour, Rina Nayak, first spotted the body around 2am. Rina also saw Tukuna running away from the house. “I called his father who was sleeping outside the house. I also informed the police,” said Rina.

Tukuna’s father, Dasa Nayak, said Souri and her son were sleeping inside the house. “My son was mentally unstable and had been under treatment. However, his medicine stock was exhausted and we had no money to buy them. Therefore, he had not taken medicine for the past few days,” said Dasa.

Earlier, Tukuna had also attacked some other people in the area. The family that hailed from Nayagarh district shifted to Bhubaneswar about a month ago.

The accused was arrested by Capital police following a complaint lodged by his maternal grandfather. The police also seized the blood stained stone from the spot.

The cops, however, turned down the claim that Tukuna was mentally ill. They said he was unemployed and regularly chided by his mother for not trying sincerely to get a job.

“Yesterday, she had scolded him and asked him to leave the house if he failed to land a job. The accused was angry with his mother and killed her with a stone when she was sleeping,” said a senior police officer, adding that the accused confessed to his crime during interrogation.