A 54-year-old mentally ill woman lived with the decomposed body of her son for at least four days at her home in New Delhi’s Kali Bari area, barely a kilometre from the Parliament House.
It was only when the woman could not control her hunger pangs, did she make a phone call to one of her three daughters to complain about her son. The death came to light when her daughters visited her on Monday morning.
The deceased has been identified as 32-year-old Kapil. He lived with his mother, Ramdulari, in a government flat in a gated residential colony.
The family had been allotted the government flat as her husband was employed with the Indian Railways. He had, however, passed away a couple of years ago.
Mentally unstable
“The woman had suffered brain haemorrhage sometime ago, and had undergone surgery for that. She has been mentally unstable since then. and had lost her ability to smell, feel and was incoherent in her speech. She was also undergoing treatment at Lok Nayak Hospital,” said a police officer.
Ramdulari’s three daughters are married and settled with their families in different parts of Delhi. She was being taken care of by her son, Kapil. He would fetch food for her from outside and keep it in the refrigerator.
An alcoholic
Kapil himself ate very little as he was a heavy drinker. “The alcohol had left Kapil physically very weak. We have learnt that he was recently diagnosed with jaundice, but he did not stop drinking,” said an officer.
Kapil is believed to have died after falling off his bed sometime around last Thursday or Friday. His post-mortem report has not indicated any foul play, said Jatin Narwal, DCP (New Delhi).
It was on Monday morning that hunger pangs hit Ramdulari. She had exhausted the food in her refrigerator and called out to her son but finding no response, she had walked out of her flat and asked a neighbour to ring her daughter. She told her daughter she hadn’t eaten for a few days. Soon, all her three daughters landed up at her home.
“They were greeted by a strong stench. They walked inside to find Kapil’s body lying on the floor. It had decomposed badly,” said an officer. It appears that the woman was under the impression that her son was sleeping all along. “Her poor sense of smell meant she was unaffected by the foul smell emanating from the body,” said the officer.
The woman had poor sense of smell and was unaffected by the odour emanating from the body
