Nagpur, Maharashtra (January 2, 2025): A 21-year-old engineering student, Utkarsh Dakhole, has been arrested for killing both his parents in a brutal attack on December 26 at their New Khasala residence near Kamptee Road.
Utkarsh, a third-year engineering student, allegedly murdered his mother, Aruna, after being angered by her and his father’s repeated insistence that he abandon his studies. He had failed his physics paper three times, and his parents had urged him to shift to ITI and take up farming.
On the day of the crime, Utkarsh’s father, Leeladhar, had slapped him the previous day and insisted he give up engineering. Leeladhar worked at the Koradi thermal power station and had also suggested Utkarsh take up farming on their ancestral land. This angered Utkarsh, who then killed his mother by throttling her and left her body in the bedroom.
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When Leeladhar returned home two hours later, Utkarsh attacked him from behind, stabbing him repeatedly with a knife he had bought earlier that day. Despite being severely wounded, Leeladhar attempted to calm Utkarsh and suggested that they all sit down and resolve the issue. It was then that Utkarsh revealed to his father that he had already murdered his mother. Leeladhar reportedly told Utkarsh he would still insist on him discontinuing his engineering studies.
In a fit of rage, Utkarsh continued to stab his father until he fell unconscious. After the murders, he typed a fake suicide note on his father's phone and saved it as a wallpaper. He then told his sister that their parents had gone to Bengaluru for a 10-day meditation camp, explaining that their phones would be off. The siblings then went to a relative's house in Bailwada.
The crime was discovered on January 1 after neighbors complained of a foul smell coming from the house. Upon entering the home, they found the bodies of Leeladhar and Aruna. The police were notified and began investigating the suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Authorities discovered that Utkarsh had switched off the location services on his father's phone and had taken it with him. He had also locked the drawing room from the outside, which raised further suspicion. During questioning, Utkarsh confessed to the murders after being grilled by the police for about an hour.
Utkarsh has been arrested, and the investigation is ongoing.