Youth who killed mother in drug-induced rage nabbed from Patna

Animesh Jha had to leave his software engineering job in a private company after his drug abuse spiralled out of control. Suffering from withdrawal, he asked his mother Meeta, an investment banker, for money, but she refused to give him single penny. Furious over his mother's refusal, Animesh strangulated her to death at her residence in South West Delhi's Dwarka area on February 28.

Sensing that police would catch up to him, Animesh went underground and stopped using his phone. To plan out his escape, however, he needed his friends and would communicate with them on social networking sites like LinkedIn. When he made contact with his friends, police were tipped off and Animesh was arrested Patna early Tuesday morning.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police, (South West), Surender Kumar, Meeta's daughter had earlier called the police and told them that her mother had been missing for the last five days and expressed fear that her brother may have killed her. Police reached the woman's flat located at Chandra Park in Dwarka's Sector-3 area and found her body.

When Animesh was found missing, he became the primary suspect and efforts were on to trace his whereabouts.

During investigation, it was found that in order to avoid police surveillance, Animesh left his mobile phone in his Dwarka flat.

However, he stayed in touch with his friends through social media sites.

He travelled several places, including Mumbai, Haridwar and Rishikesh, before police eventually apprehended him in Patna early Tuesday morning.

"Animesh did his engineering from Malaysia and worked with a private company for few years, but because of drug addiction he left his job and started staying with his mother," said a senior police official.

The accused sought help from his friends to escape India. One of the friends, when approached by Animesh for help, tipped off police about his location and he was arrested at Patna railway station with the help of local police. He was about to flee to Nepal, the DCP said.

"We have also got to know that Jha was earlier arrested in Nepal and Mumbai in drug trafficking case. In both the cases, his mother helped and got him out on bail," Kumar added.