In a Shocking incident, the family of an 82-year-old woman stayed with her body for more than two days after she died on Thursday. The deceased identified as Chhaya Chatterjee Died on Thursday or Friday at the family's Sarsuna flat, around 5km from Diamond Harbour Road. But the other members of the family, bed-ridden octogenarian Rabindranath, and daughter Nilanjana whose is in her late 40s, went about their normal routine without cremating the body or informing anybody, police said.
It was only after the neighbors alerted the cops, following an "unbearable stench" from their residence, that Nilanjana stated her mother had died two days ago. "She must have died 36 to 48 hours or even earlier before we were informed. We will wait for the postmortem report. Just like in February, Nilanjana and Rabindranath failed to inform anyone about the death this time too," said DC (Behala) Nilanjan Biswas.
Chhaya's son, Debashis (47), died in similar circumstances at the same house in February this year. Even then, neighbors had to call up the cops after getting a similar stench and it was found that the family was staying with Debashis's dead body for two days. Uttam Saha, a neighbor, stated, "It is impossible for the family to survive unless society comes forward to help. Now, there is no one to even draw cash from the bank. I heard that some of their relatives send them packaged food," said.
According to the neighbors, the family which moved into this neighborhood only five years ago has been entirely dependent on the retirement benefits of Rabindranath, who worked with a big private firm. "But the benefits must have dried up by now," informed Amit Ghosal, another neighbor. According to the Times of India, the neighbors also claimed that the family had kept all windows and doors of their top-floor flat shut to keep the stench from escaping and had even stopped eating for over one-and-a-half days.
