A 90-year-old man lived with his wife’s body for around four days at his south Delhi residence before the death was discovered on Monday morning.
The police said prima facie the woman, 85-year-old Gopi Jethani, appeared to have died a natural death as there were no injuries on her body, but they would wait for the autopsy report before arriving at any conclusion.
“The woman’s husband appeared to be mentally disturbed because of his age. He has not been responding well and is not in a position to communicate,” said a senior police officer.
The deceased and her husband, Govind Ram Jethani, lived in J1 lane of Kalkaji. Police said the probe has revealed the couple had no children. Govind Ram was employed with a private firm before he retired around three decades ago.
The couple had been living in the same residence for close to four decades, but neighbours said they did not know the couple’s names and referred to them as “uncle” and “aunty”.
The aged couple was also careful not to allow strangers inside their house.
“We rarely saw their door or windows open. We did our bit to make them feel secure by not intruding into their privacy,” said a neighbour.
It was around 5 am on Monday that a neighbour walked past the house. Govind Ram, who was sitting outside the house, called out to the neighbour and said that his wife was dead and he needed help. He said his relatives lived in the city, but was unable to provide any address.
On approaching the house, the neighbour sensed foul smell emanating from inside and made a call to the police. When police entered the house, they found the dead woman’s body infested with maggots, suggesting that the body was lying inside for at least four days.
“He was barely in a conscious state when we entered the house. But he did not want us to take his wife’s body away,” said a police officer.
The woman’s body has been sent for post-mortem. Police tried to speak to her husband about the circumstances of her death, but he was unable to communicate much. The incident is being probed even though police said foul play was unlikely.
