Hyderabad, April 5 (IANS): A drug addict man has killed his father by setting him on fire on the outskirts of Hyderabad, the police said on Friday.

The incident occurred on Thursday at Turkayamjal. According to the police, Tirupati Anurag (28) poured petrol on his father Tirupati Ravinder (54), and set him ablaze after an argument at their home in Shiva Sai colony.

The accused, who is said to be mentally unstable after becoming addicted to 'Ganja', picked up an argument with his father Ravinder for not buying him a bike.

S. Raghavender Reddy, circle inspector, Adibatla Police Station, said that Anurag, who had stored two bottles of petrol, first poured one bottle on Ravinder in a fit of rage.

Ravinder, who was having lunch, ran down from the first floor to save himself. His son, holding another bottle of petrol, chased him.

On the ground floor, Anurag set his father ablaze with a lighter.

"Screaming for help, Ravinder ran out of the house but Anurag kept chasing him. Ravinder collapsed about 120 meters from the house and the accused poured another bottle of petrol on his father. Not stopping at that, Anurag also smashed Ravinder's head with a stone," the police officer said.

Anurag, who had locked up his mother Sudha in a room, fled the scene after changing his shirt.

"We gathered evidence from the scene of the offence and launched an investigation. On Friday morning, we arrested Anurag," Raghavender Reddy said.

Police investigation revealed that Anurag had lost his job due to drug addiction six months ago.

He allegedly had a history of abusing substances and subjecting his father to verbal and physical mistreatment. Anurag used to have frequent fights with his parents and younger brother Abhishek.

Anurag had also taken treatment at a rehabilitation centre recently, but he continued to misbehave with his parents.

Ravinder had recently bought a house and Anurag was angry with him for not helping him settle down in life and not taking care of his health issues.

Local resident Vijay Anand Reddy said Ravinder had purchased the house in the colony about two months ago and the family had shifted around 20 days back.

Terming the incident tragic, he demanded that the government completely ban drugs to prevent such incidents.