The victim, Nikita Singh, a resident of the Bindayaka area here, was preparing for competitive examinations, Station House Officer (SHO) Bindayaka police station Bhajanlal said.

Her father Bhajan Lal said Nikita used to spend a lot of time on the phone so her family confiscated it about two and a half months ago, the police said.

A few days ago, when Nikita assured her family that she would limit her mobile phone use, the phone was returned to her, they said.

According to the police, on Monday morning, Brijesh again took the phone from Nikita after seeing her using it. He switched it off and gave it to his wife, Seeta, to hide it and left for work around 8 am, they said.

During the day, an argument broke out between Nikita and her mother over this issue, the police said, adding that the verbal spat escalated and an enraged Seeta hit her daughter on the head with a rod.

Nikita lost consciousness due to the head injury and was taken to SMS Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival, the police said.

A case of murder has been registered against the victim's mother and Nikita's body has been handed over to the family members after postmortem on Tuesday, they said.

"We have registered a case of murder. No arrest has been made so far. Further action will be taken as per the postmortem report and investigation," SHO Bhajanlal said.