Paradip: A 21-year-old college student killed his parents and sister using stones in Jagatsinghpur district as they were opposed to his addiction to online games, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place at Jayabada Sethi Sahi under Jagatsinghpur police station area around 3 am as the student either used stones or some hard objects to smash the heads of his father, mother and sister, Superintendent of Police Bhawani Shankar Udgata said. A preliminary investigation revealed that accused Surjyakant Sethy was annoyed with his parents and sister for “opposing him playing online games on his mobile phone”, Jagatsinghpur police station inspector in-charge Prabhas Sahu said. Family members were deeply concerned about Surjyakant’s behaviour as he was unemployed and frequently played online games despite objections from his parents.

The deceased were identified as Prasant Sethy alias Kalia (65), his wife Kanaklata (62) and daughter Rosalin (25). “After the incident, Surjyakant Sethy hid near the village, and later he was arrested,” the SP said.

SP Udgata said the youth was suspected to have a mental problem. Local MLA Amarendra Das said the family members had once come to him over some land dispute.

One of the villagers, who informed the police about the ghastly incident, told mediapersons that Surjyakant on Tuesday came to his house and informed him about killing his parents and sister. The villagers rushed to his house where the bodies of deceased persons were found in a pool of blood. The accused’s elder brother reportedly told mediapersons that Surjyakant has been suffering from mental health-related issues and had committed the crime due to mental instability. He said that the family members had recently planned to take Surjyakant to a doctor in Cuttack for treatment.

A police team, led by the SP and a scientific team, reached the spot and started an investigation, another officer said. The bodies were sent for post-mortem

, he added.