Nonagenarian’s nephew seeks NGO help, says can’t take care

Days after 90-year-old Govind Ram Jethani was found living with the maggot-infested corpse of his wife, their nephew (57), Narinder, who claims to be  their adopted son, has sought an NGO’s help to take care of his uncle.

On Wednesday, it was learnt that Jethani’s health was deteriorating. Jethani is admitted to a private hospital in Safrdarjung Enclave. 

Narinder said some NGO, working for senior citizens, must come forward to help his nonagenarian uncle as he himself was old and might not be able to take proper care of Jethani. However, Narinder is bearing all expenses for Jethani's treatment, police said.

On Monday, Jethani was found living with his 85-year-old wife Gopi’s highly decomposed body at their one-room flat in Kalkaji area. 

A police officer said Jethani was probably mentally disturbed, which is common among senior citizens living alone. They suffer from loneliness, a disorder that exacerbates as a person grows older and his finances and friends dwindle.

Narinder said the couple did not have a child and none of their relatives were ready to take Jethani’s care. For the past 42 years, they had been living in house number J1/110 and the building is the only dilapidated house in the area.

Jethani’s neighbours said that the couple hardly had a conversation with any of them. Some said Jethani used to wear the same set of clothes daily and barely switched on the house’s lights, even during an outage.

Before the couple shifted to Kalkaji in 1974, they lived with their family in Sarojini Nagar. At that time, Jethani reportedly owned garment shops in the market. After a dispute with his brothers, the couple shifted to Kalkaji. The couple’s neighours have not seen a relative or friend have visiting them for long.

However, Jethani’s younger brother, Roopchand, said he used to send him money.

Meanwhile, there are only two government-run old-age homes in the Capital and around 48 old-age homes are being run by NGOs and trusts.