Coimbatore : A 35-year-old youth was taken into custody for killing his mother near Pollachi in the district.

The incident came to light last night, when the neighbours called the police after hearing the crying sound of a child from the house latched from inside.

The youth, Mounagurusamy, a BSc graduate, was said to be mentally upset after the death of his father six years ago and mother, Chellammal (55) used to pick up quarrel frequently asking the son to go for job, they said.

Chellammal left her home in Unjavelampatty to stay with her daughter in Dindigul, after quarrelling with the son a week ago and returned yesterday morning, along with a grandson, police said.

Mounagurusamy picked up quarrel with his mother and in a fit of anger hit her with a wooden chair, who fell unconscious. The son latched the front door from inside, police said.

The neighbours heard the sound of a child crying from inside for long and informed police, who rushed to the spot and broke open the door to find the woman lying in a pool of blood and son sitting nearby, with the 3-year-old child. police said.

Police took Mounagurusamy into custody for further investigation and sent the body for postmortem to the government hospital in Pollachi, they said.