CHENNAI: A 71-year-old woman was allegedly pushed under a moving train by her son near Manavur railway station in Tiruvallur district on Tuesday night.
The accused S Parthasarathy told the police that he took the extreme step as he was frustrated by his mother S Padmavathi's prolonged illness.
The Government Railway Police were alerted by workers after they noticed an elderly woman's body on the tracks near Manavur railway station.
Police personnel sent the body for a post-mortem examination.
The police examined the CCTV footage and found the woman was brought to the spot on a wheelchair.
According to the initial probe, Padmavathi, a widow, had been living in Manavur near Thiruvalangadu with her eldest of the three sons.
Parthasarathy is the youngest of the three; his wife and daughters were estranged from him due to his alcohol problem. He was taking care of both his mother and the eldest brother who was also bed-ridden.
A contract employee at the Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi, Parthasarathy told the police that his mother’s recent hospitalisation pushed him into frustration as he could not care for her and also sent money to his wife and daughters, and decided to get rid of her.
On Tuesday, Parthasarathy took his mother to the Manavur railway station. He apparently took help from some passengers to carry his wheelchair-bound mother up and down the stairs to reach the platform where express trains passed through. He then allegedly pushed his mother in front of a moving train and fled the spot, the police said.
A police team secured Parthasarathy on Wednesday. He was produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody.