Kolkata, A 78-year-old man on Saturday claimed to have murdered his specially-abled middle aged son here over his apparent refusal to wear mask amid the Covid-19 induced lockdown, the police said.

Banshidhar Mallick, a resident of Shovabazar in North Kolkata, went to the Shyampukur Police Station at around 7 p.m. and said that he had murdered his son by strangulating him with a clothe strap.

The septuagenarian claimed that he committed the crime at about 5.30 p.m. after his son refused to wear a mask while going out of the house.

Mallick claimed that his son had been going out every evening without wearing a mask, despite being repeatedly told to put it on as per the lockdown protocol.

The verbal exchanges soon turned serious on Saturday and the old man claimed that he lost his cool and strangulated his son to death.

The officer-in-charge of the police station, along with officers, rushed to the old man's residence and found his 45-year-old son, Shirsendu Mallick, lying dead.

The body has sent to the hospital for post-mortem.

Officers from the city police's detective department also reached the spot and conducted initial investigation.

Mallick has been detained and a case of murder has been initiated, said city police Joint Commissioner (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.

"As far as the motive is concerned, the matter is under investigation," Sharma said.