NEW DELHI • The son of an Indian murder victim has confessed to stabbing his father's killer to death and chopping his body into 12 pieces, one for every year since his father was slain, media reports said.

Alam Khan was 12 years old when he saw his father being murdered by a family friend in 2003. He secretly planned his revenge ever since and finally seized his chance last week when he invited the killer over for a drink.

After getting Mohammad Rais drunk at his home in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Khan knifed him to death before using a hammer and hacksaw to dismember the body, he told reporters on Monday after his arrest.

He and an accomplice then packed the body parts into plastic bags which they threw into a river.

When the bags washed up on the river's banks, the police were able to identify Rais only from a surgery scar on his torso.

Khan, who was arrested after witnesses recounted how Rais was last seen visiting his home, made a full confession.

"I played some music at full volume and cut his body into 12 pieces," he was quoted as saying by the Times of India yesterday.

Khan never told anyone about the identity of his father's killer and instead waited for 12 years to "realise his dream" of taking revenge.

He was "happy it was now done".

Police Superintendent Ram Suresh Yadav told the newspaper Khan confessed to his crime with an "utter lack of remorse".

The murder weapons were recovered from Khan's home, Supt Yadav added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE