Tired of caregiving, Delhi woman beats 86-year-old mother-in-law to death with frying pan

A 48-year-old woman has been arrested on charges of beating her 86-year-old mother-in-law to death with a frying pan in Delhi's Neb Sarai area, police said. It is suspected that the accused identified as Sarmistha Som was frustrated with household chores and also tired of taking care of her mother-in-law who was suffering from arthritis.

A family hailing from West Bengal brought an elderly woman from Kolkata in March 2022 to live with them and rented her a flat in front of theirs, the official said.

Surjit Som, 51, along with his wife and 16-year-old daughter, have been living at the Svastik Neb Sarai residence since 2014. Police arrived at their residence after a person informed them on April 28 that his friend Hasi Som's mother had collapsed in her apartment and was heavily she was bleeding.

When officials arrived at the scene, they found Som on the kitchen floor with multiple injuries to her face and skull, her son said she had trouble walking due to arthritis. The post-mortem was conducted on April 29 after the woman's body was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) mortuary, as per reports.

Eventually, facts about the Som family came to light, leading to the arrest of Sarmistha Som, who was the only one present in the flat on the day Hasi Som died. Her daughter told the police that her mother and grandmother did not share a cordial relationship, and Surjit Som later admitted to removing the memory card from the CCTV camera before the police arrived. The footage revealed that on April 28, Sarmishta entered Hasi Som's apartment with a pan and heated her on it several times. According to police, an elderly woman could be heard screaming on the recording.

The autopsy report noted that Hasi Som suffered 14 wounds all over her body. A case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against Surjit's wife and she was taken into custody.