FARIDABAD: Angered at her younger brother's refusal to give her the phone when she asked for it to play a game, a 15-year-old girl allegedly strangled him with a dupatta at their house in Faridabad earlier this week.
Police said on Thursday the girl flew into rage because the incident triggered deep resentment she harboured for her sibling, who she believed received "preferential treatment" from the family.
The siblings' parents - their father works in an export company and mother in an engineering firm - were out for work at the time. The children, police said, lived with their grandparents in UP's Auraiya, where they went to school, and had come to Faridabad, where their parents are based, to spend the summer holidays.
The 15-year-old was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday and sent to an observation home.
When he returned home on Tuesday, the father saw a crowd outside their rented apartment. "I found that my son was lying on the bed and wasn't responsive. I asked my wife what happened but she said she had no idea about it. I saw some injuries on his neck. My daughter didn't say anything when I asked," the father said in his complaint.
The boy was rushed to ESIC hospital, where the doctors declared him dead. The family subsequently filed a murder complaint against an unknown person. Police realised what had happened when they began talking to the girl.
"The girl was quizzed in the presence of her mother. She told us her family would scold her a lot, and that it made her feel that they loved the boy, and not her," Faridabad police spokesperson Sube Singh said.
The autopsy report confirmed that the boy died of asphyxiation. The district child welfare committee submitted a social investigation report (SIR) and said the girl will be counselled.