Janaki Fernandes for Mid-day
  
Mumbai, Feb 14: At 7 pm, Ashok Kajre (21) waited at a busy street at Dharavi for the police to arrive. At his feet was his father’s blood-spattered dead body.

Calm and at peace, minutes earlier, the man had just knifed his father on the street, killing him instantly.

When the three constables from the Dharavi police station arrived, Kajre surrendered.

Kajre said he had wanted to kill his father, Hanumanta Kajre (45), for over three years, but hadn’t been motivated to doing it. But when his father got his wedding cancelled by instigating his fiancé’s family against him, he decided to act.

Said Kajre, “I hate him. The man ruined my life and he deserved to die. I have absolutely no regrets killing him.”

Kajre said he began to hate his father ever since he abandoned his mother 20 years ago. “My mother took me to Nashik and we had a tough time making ends meet. She remarried, but the marriage wasn’t happy and they would hit me,” explained Kajre.

Three years ago, Kajre’s mother left him and he became the laughing stock of his village. “I blame my father, had he not left my mother, we could have been a happy family,” he said. 

Karje left Nashik for Mumbai with the intention of killing his father. “But my relatives convinced me otherwise and I began to internalise my hatred. My ruined marriage plans convinced me to kill him,” added Kajre. “My father remarried and had a 12-year-old son. I didn’t want his life to be ruined.”

Said constable P Mohite, “When we saw a big crowd at the junction, we stopped our mobile van and saw the boy had a knife in his hand and was telling everyone he killed his father.”