Mother strangles 14-year-old son and burns his body in backyard following an argument

A woman has been arrested in the south Indian state of Kerala on Thursday, 18 January, for allegedly killing her son following an argument.

Jayamol reportedly strangled the 14-year-old with her scarf and then took his body to the backyard and burnt it with dry leaves and coconut fibre. She also allegedly threw the burnt remains over the boundary wall of her home and then dragged it a few metres away, NDTV reported.

The crime came to light on Wednesday after police searched the house and the area nearby.

Along with her husband, Jayamol had registered a missing complaint for her son, Jithu Job, on Monday evening after allegedly committing the crime

Authorities, however, found several contradictions in the woman's statements. She even failed to answer basic questions after filing the complaint, local media reports stated.

The body was found around 200m away from the teenager's house. The 42-year-old mother later admitted to her crime and told investigators that she lost her temper after an argument with Jithu and strangled him to death.

The grade nine student had reportedly asked for permission to go to his grandparents' place but Jayamol apparently disapproved of the idea. "Jaya told us that she didn't like her son going to her in-laws' place frequently. She tried to stop him several times. That day, too, when he was about to go, she tried to block him. But he didn't listen. This provoked her," the sub inspector of the area, Nizar, told The News Minute.

She also allegedly lied to her husband, Job John, when he asked about their son. Jayamol told him that Jithu had gone out to buy stationery. But when he did not return after several hours, she accompanied her husband to the police state to file the missing report.

During initial investigation, police suspected that the woman had hacked her son before burning his body as his limbs seemed to have been chopped off. But she told officers that the body fell apart when she burnt it and she carried all the parts to the empty plot.

An autopsy report also supported Jaya's claims.

Meanwhile, some media reports have speculated that the mother did not commit the murder alone. A member of Job's family, who did not want to be identified, even alleged that the woman may have had an affair with someone and she must have eliminated Jithu when he became aware of it, the News Minute reported.

But police have refuted all the claims and said, "We haven't got any evidence to prove that the crime was carried out with the help of someone else."