Indian woman arrested for killing teenage son, burning body

NEW DELHI, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indian police Friday said they have arrested a 42-year-old woman on charges of killing her teenage son, and then burning his body and dumping the charred remains near their home in the southern state of Kerala.

The bone-chilling crime that has shocked the entire country took place in Kollam, over 65 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, earlier this week, but came to light later only after the woman, identified as Jaya Mol, broke down during sustained interrogation by police.

Kollam's police chief A. Sreenivas said that Mol had allegedly lost her temper during an argument with her 14-year-old son and strangled him with a dupatta in a fit of rage.

Later the woman went to a nearby police station along with her husband and filed a missing person's complaint. But cops began suspecting her after noticing several contradictions in her statement and searched the vicinity of her house only to come across the human remains.

"Later during interrogation, Mol confessed that she dragged his body to the rear of her compound, burnt it and threw it across the wall. She then dragged the body from right outside compound wall few meters away," the police official told the media.

The woman's husband, however, told the media that his wife is "mentally unstable."

"But we have booked the woman for murder charges and produced her in a court which remanded her in police custody for a couple of days for further interrogation. We could press some other charges if necessary," another police official said.

The woman faces a maximum of death penalty if convicted. Enditem