68-year-old woman found living with daughter's corpse in Kolkata's Bijoygarh

KOLKATA: A 68-year-old woman, Dipali Basu, was found living with the corpse of her daughter - Sanchita Basu (38) - whom cops suspect had passed away at least three days ago. The death would have gone undetected had a food delivery boy - who had been hired by a relative of the women to supply food to the second-floor flat twice daily - not smelled something foul and informed the neighbours and police.
According to joint CP (crime), Shankha Subhra Chakrabarty, the incident was reported from Bijoygarh off Jadavpur on Monday afternoon. Cops claimed, prima facie, the death seemed to be natural. But, with the body now partly decomposed, cops said only an autopsy on Tuesday will help ascertain exact nature of the death.
Cops said the flat - of the three-storey building - where the two women were staying, was in a mess and that there were enough indication that both the mother and the daughter were both "mentally ill". "There are signs that they were suffering from malnutrition and had not touched food for days despite it being delivered at their doorstep," said DC (Jadavpur) Bidisha Kalita.
"Sanchita was very close to her mother Dipali. This bond became stronger after Dipali's husband, who worked in a private firm before his retirement, passed away three years ago. This flat is owned by the Basu family. As time passed, the duo reportedly started showing traits of mental illness. Sanchita was avoiding coming out in public and preferred to always stay at home. They had no source of income, and Dipali's nephew, who stays in Lucknow, had been helping them by arranging food for them twice daily," said Chakrabarty.
The nephew had hired a man for this job. When this deliveryman arrived on Monday a little after noon, he noticed that food he had delivered for the past three days was lying untouched near the door. He also realized that he had not noticed Sanchita for past 72 hours. As the man tried to peep in, he got a foul smell. He immediately informed the neighbours residing downstairs who then called up Jadavpur cops.
Sampa Saha, a neighbour, said the strong odour was making her family search for its source from the morning. "Initially, I thought that a pet had died. But I could not locate anything. Then I asked my husband to enquire. But when he tried to go upstairs, Dipali stopped him saying that her daughter was sleeping. It was through the delivery boy that we got information that Sanchita had probably died," claimed Saha.
"When we broke open the door, we found Dipali beside her dead daughter. She did not look too perturbed initially. We spoke to neighbours who claimed that she never told anybody about her daughter's death. We have sent the body to SSKM for autopsy. We suspect that she died 2-3 days ago," said police. "The nephew will arrive on Tuesday. We will speak to him to know if the mother and daughter were under any medication. We have to also arrange for Dipali's treatment," said an officer.