Unable to take his drunken father’s daily fits of violence any longer, a 17-year-old student of Class XI struck back early on Friday, killing his father with an iron rod.

Gobinda Mondal, 55, an employee of a Budge Budge jute mill, was killed in his home at Nodakhali, on the city’s southern fringes, by his son Tulsi, who is absconding.

Police said Gobinda would get drunk on country liquor every day and beat his wife Suchitra and son Tulsi. This had been going on for a long time.

Tulsi was a student of Muchisha Haridas Krishi Shilpa Mahavidyalaya and popular in the locality for his amiability.

“Tulsi is a nice boy. He passed Madhyamik in the first division. He was quite tired of his father’s behaviour. But we never thought he would kill his father in such a horrible manner,” said Subal Maity, a neighbour of Gobinda’s.

Suchitra told police that while she and her son were asleep in their room, around 2 am on Friday, Gobinda entered and shouted at Tulsi for not getting up. “He told Tulsi to earn his own living. He pulled the son by his right hand, which angered Tulsi,” she said.

Then, they began to quarrel and both left the room. “I was waiting for their return. But I heard a scream and ran out of the room. I found my husband lying in the bloody courtyard. An iron bar lay beside him. But Tulsi was nowhere to be seen,” added Suchitra.