Vancouver, March 7 (IANS) A Sikh man who beat his father to death last December in the family home in Calgary city was charged with homicide. Police said Ranjit Rana Singh, 30, faces second-degree murder charges in the death of his father Harinder Singh.

The 60-year-old Singh had suffered critical injuries after an assault inside the family home Dec 9 last year. Police and paramedics had removed him to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Rana Ranjit Singh fled in his Honda Civic after fatally injuring his father even as other family members denied that they saw the assault. He was arrested later and questioned by police for being 'a person of considerable interest'' in the case.

However, no charges were laid against the man at that time, though he remained a suspect in the case.

Later, his family admitted the 30-year-old suspect into a mental hospital. But he slipped out of the mental hospital, leading to desperate hunt for him by police. With second-degree charges laid against him at he weekend, Rana Ranjit Singh formally becomes the guilty person in the murder. The victim, who came to Canada more than a decade ago, lived with his joint family of two sons and one daughter.

Though it is never reported, physical abuse of elders and women is rampant in Indo-Canadian families. Most families bring their elders from India for the lure of old-age pension in Canada. Often family disputes spiral out of control, leading to tragedies like the death of Singh at the hands of his own son.