The body of a 80-year-old woman, who is reported to have passed away in November last year, was recovered by cops from her south Delhi residence on Saturday following a minor scuffle with her “mentally retarded” daughter who tried to prevent them from taking it away.
The body of Vinod Gupta, a resident of KE 58, D-Block, Saket, was kept wrapped in blankets by her daughter, Shalini Mehra, 51, and was in a “highly decomposed” state. The police said Shalini, a divorcee, is mentally retarded and was living with the deceased after she got separated from her husband.
The incident came to light on Saturday afternoon when an employee of Delhi Jal Board, Rajender Bhadana, went to the house to check the water meter. “When I knocked on the door, there was no response. Foul smell was coming from inside. I sensed something was wrong and immediately called up the police control room,” Mr Bhadana said. A team of cops arrived and asked Shalini to open the door.
However, Shalini locked the main gate and asked the cops to go away. “We broke open the lock. However, she rushed inside and locked it. We broke it open but she locked the doorway to the room from where the smell was coming. We had to break open four locks to reach the bedroom where the body was kept,” a source said.
“The corpse was lying in a highly decomposed state. We had to collect it in bits and pieces and it was later sent for a DNA and a post-mortem examination,” the source said.
The neighbours have told the cops that they haven’t seen the deceased for months,
“We were not in touch with the family. Her daughter used to come out occasionally but she never talked to us,” K.L. Bhatia, who lives on first floor of the building, reportedly told the cops. The police has initiated investigations under 174 CrPC and an investigation is on.
The deceased’s husband, P.L. Gupta expired few years back. Shalini has a daughter who lives with her husband.